Chasing a Dream
by GAvillain
Summary: "You give up a few things, chasing a dream." Silver mentioned this to Jim on his voyage, but now the phrase has truely shown itself on Jim's on quest through the worlds. Massive crossover fanfic in the same style as Kingdom Hearts. Currently rated T but it might change to M later on depending on how graphic I feel like taking this story.
1. Before We've Even Begun

The Benbow Inn was flourishing with customers since its reconstruction nearly one year ago, and the Hawkins family was relatively well off because of it. The seventeen year old Jim Hawkins was helping his mother out around the inn by waiting tables and cleaning dirty dishes. Life had been good for the Hawkins in the past year. That is to say, life _was_ good for them until a mysterious package was delivered to the Benbow Inn.

The package wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was just a simple brown box that came with the rest of the mail one morning. No name was on the package to indicate who sent it, but Jim immediately knew who sent it by looking at the name to whom the package was addressed:

_**Jimbo**_

The only one who called him "Jimbo" was John Silver. A rush of excitement swelled up in Jim. He hadn't heard from Silver since the man had escaped the _Legacy _after giving Jim a handful of gold and jewels from Flint's treasure trove. He tore through the wrapping paper in a haste and opened the box. Inside was a golden sphere with odd mechanical shapes imprinted on the shell. It looked exactly like the map to Treasure Planet.

Jim grasped the orb in his hands, the metal shell feeling cool against his skin. Jim immediately ran up to his room and locked the door. Maps like these were a lost technology. No one knew how to use them anymore, including Silver... or, at least, that had been the case with the map to Treasure Planet. Jim slid the pieces of metal composing the map's shell around in the pattern familiar to him. The orb, as Jim expected, opened with a click, pouring out green lights. The lights jumped around in front of Jim and created a holographic projection of Silver.

"Jimbo," the hologram, obviously prerecorded spoke up, "I miss ya lad and I wish I could have come to see ya myself. However, there's something important that I need to ask of ya. I'm sorry for intruding upon your life, but you're the only person who I trust enough to share this information with. Throughout my travels, I learned that Flint's trove was only half of Flint's treasure. He also possessed something far more powerful: The Armageddon Key. Well, through my travels over the past year, I found the Key, and I've been trying to protect it from the Overlords. However, now I fear that I may not survive long enough to keep it out of their grasp. So, I have hidden the Key. I cannot reveal the Key's location to ya, lad, but this map will lead you to several special worlds that will point you right direction. I need for ya to find the key and destroy. I'm afraid that I am not strong enough to do the deed myself. If you go to the First Bank of Montressor, you'll find an account in your name with enough money to fund an expedition across the universe. Well... I think that's everything. Good luck, lad."

A million questions raced through Jim's mind at that moment, but not even a shadow of a doubt crossed his mind as to whether or not he would take up the task. Silver needed his help. That was all that mattered.

* * *

Jim's mother, Sarah Hawkins, was less than thrilled to hear that her son was about to take off on another expedition in space, but, after seeing how important this was to him, she agreed to let him go. B.E.N., of course, insisted upon accompanying Jim, and Morph followed Jim wherever he went. Jim used the money that Silver left to him to hire out the crew of a ship called _The Dreamer. _It was a modest looking ship, but it was sturdy and well crafted. Thankfully, the crew of this ship seemed very respectable and not at all pirate-like like the crew of _The Legacy. _The ship's captain was a jovial old man with a goofy white beard that reminded Jim of Santa Clause. Jim and B.E.N. were given their own cabin next to the captain's quarters. When they had finally settled into the cabin, Jim took back out the map.

"Hey, Jimmy, what's THAT?!" B.E.N. asked in his typical "outdoor voice" style, "That looks EXACTLY like the map to FLINT'S TROVE!"

Jim hushed B.E.N. and indicated to the robot to speak at a lower volume.

"This is the reason for this expedition," Jim explained, "Silver sent it to me. He needs me to find Flint's Armageddon Key and destroy it."

"THE ARMAGEDDON KEY?!" B.E.N. screeched before being quieted by Jim and continuing in a whisper, "The Armageddon Key was Captain Flint's ultimate weapon for destruction. No one was allowed to see it, not even me. He was planning on using it to unleash something really terrible into our world."

"Do you know what the Key is or what it releases?" Jim asked.

"Not a clue, Jimmy," B.E.N. admitted, "Flint kept everything about the Key on the down-low."

The ship sailed forward for two days, following Jim's instructions taken from the map. The ship approached a warp hole, a tear in the fabric of the universe that would allow _The Dreamer _to "jump" to a galaxy on the opposite end of the universe. As the ship passed through the warp hole, a blinding light engulfed it. When the light cleared, a large black vessel that was far different in appearance from the boat-like appearance of _The Dreamer _approached the ship. Horrific shrieks began to ring painfully loud in the air as human sized armored creatures with wrinkled green skin that glittered in the starlight jumped off of the vessel and onto _The Dreamer. _

"GOBLINS!" B.E.N. exclaimed in terror.

The crew of _The Dreamer _immediately engaged the armored attackers, however, none of the crew's weapons seemed to affect the goblins. The crew was being slaughtered by the attackers, one by one. Three goblins broke away from the pack and began to bound forward towards B.E.N. and Jim. Two of them leaped onto B.E.N. while one of them swiped at Jim with its claws. The goblin left a long cut on Jim's forearm that gushed blood. Jim groaned in pain and clutched his arm. The goblin slapped Jim to the ground with one swing of its grotesque arm, causing him to knock his head on the deck. Jim reached to his belt to grab his pistol, pointed it up the armored creature, and pulled the trigger of his pistol, sending a laser blast right at the chest of the creature. However, this didn't seem to affect it.

The goblin grabbed at Jim's throat and began to squeeze. Jim could feel the life leaving his body as he gasped for breaths that wouldn't come. Just as he was about to go under, a bolt of lightning struck the goblin, causing it to release Jim. He fell, gasping, to the deck of the ship and looked up. Just before everything faded to black, he could see a large muscular man with golden hair and a bright red cape land on the deck of the ship. Whoever this man was, he was fighting against the goblins as well. Jim let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the deck.

* * *

Jim slowly opened his eyes. They felt heavy and everything hurt. The cut on his arm was coated with damp, bright red blood. He also had a walnut sized gash on his forehead that stung and poured a trickle of blood down the side of his face. His entire body ached as if every inch of him had been punched hard by someone with considerable strength. But he was alive. That was the miracle, especially considering that no one else on the deck of _The Dreamer _still had a pulse, as far as he could see. _The Dreamer _was just as battered and damaged as its sole survivor. However it still flew forward, a testament to the strength of the ship's builders. Jim pulled himself up, suddenly remembering the man that had saved him. Where was he now?

"You are the only survivor," a deep voice bellowed.

Jim turned around to see the muscular man sitting on a crate behind him. Now, getting a good look at his saviour, he saw that the man had bright blue eyes and a handsome face.

"What... happened?" Jim asked, still not completely back to mental alertness.

"Your boat was attacked by these odd creatures," the man stood as he explained, "They are not of my world, nor any known to my people. However, evidently, they are susceptible to lightning. I was able to slay them, but I was only in time to save you."

"Only... only me?" Jim repeated, his eye filling with tears that he quickly bit back, "But... how can I... that is to say, what am I... but that's... I mean... thank you. I don't want to seem ungrateful."

"It is alright, my friend," the man placed his hand on Jim's shoulder as a sign of camaraderie, "I know the pains of loosing men in the heat of battle. But, all life is precious, and, you should cherish your own. The Norns have smiled upon you this day. You must have a destiny to fulfil."

Jim just stared at the man in front of him, not sure what to think or how to feel.

"Who are you?" Jim asked after a moment of pause.

"I am Thor, Prince of Asgard and god of thunder."


	2. Magic, Iron, and Rainbows

"The g-go-god of thunder?!" Jim asked in surprise.

"Yes," Thor answered, "Now, might I have your name?"

"I'm Jim," he said, "Jim Hawkins"

"Well, Kin of Hawk," Thor began, "Those goblins have been lurking about in the space around Asgard. We repelled them when they tried to attack the eternal city, yet still they remain. When Heimdall's gaze saw your ship being attacked by those creatures, I volunteered to lend you my aid. Unfortunately, I was too late."

"Wait," Jim began, "You said that none of the crew survived, but what about B.E.N.?"

"What?" Thor asked, puzzled.

"B.E.N.," Jim repeated, "A friend of mine. He's a robot."

"I think I know to what you are referring," Thor replied.

Thor led Jim down to the main area of the ship. On the deck was the shattered remains of B.E.N. Tears welled up in Jim's eyes, but he quickly bit them back to avoid crying in front of Thor.

"Can you repair your metal friend?" Thor inquired.

Jim shook his head heavily.

"No," Jim answered with a sigh, "The technology used to build him is ancient. It would take weeks for me to learn the technology, and rebuilding him would be a long and painful process. And I don't have the time. I have to help another friend, and it's a matter of grave importance."

"I think I may know a man that can repair your metal friend," Thor exclaimed after a few seconds of silence, "He may only be a mortal, but he is swift in learning and skilled in building and inventing."

"At this point, I'm willing to try anything," Jim stated.

Thor nodded.

"I shall take you back with me to Asgard," Thor said, "We shall tend to your wounds, and then I will take you to my friend to rebuild your robot."

"Thank you," Jim responded, "I really can't thank you enough for everything that you've done me."

"You are most welcome, Kin of Hawk," Thor said with a grin, "Also, I found this odd creature hiding amongst the rope. Does it belong to you?"

Thor held out his hand to reveal a very frightened blob of pink hunkered down in the thunder god's hand.

"Morph!" Jim exclaimed, having completely forgotten about the creature until now.

Hearing its name, the pink blob looked up to see Jim standing front of it. Morph immediately flew out of Thor's hand and up to Jim. The pink blob rubbed up against Jim's face and took a seat on Jim's shoulder. With Morph back and the prospect of rebuilding B.E.N., things weren't looking so dismal anymore. Jim and Thor rounded up the pieces of B.E.N. in a burlap sack that they found below deck, and Thor carried Jim (and Morph with him) down to Asgard. Flying over the city was a breath-taking experience. The architecture of Asgard was incredible. The city was certainly fit for gods. Out in the distance, Jim could see several Asgardians working on a large metal sphere at the end of a multi-colored glass-like bridge. Thor landed on a walk-way leading up to the largest building, which Jim assumed to be the palace. A blonde woman sporting an all green attire stood in front of them.

"Thor!" the woman shouted as she ran forward to embrace Thor, which he returned half-heartedly, "I was _so_ worried about you!"

"You needn't worry," Thor replied, "Those creatures are nothing to be concerned about."

"Nothing to be concerned about?!" Jim asked in disbelief.

"I apologize, Kin of Hawk," Thor said upon realizing that what he said might have been insensitive to Jim, "I did not mean to speak ill of your fallen comrades."

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" the woman interjected.

"Ah, yes, forgive my rudeness," Thor said, "Jim, this is my friend, Amora the Enchantress. Amora, this is Jim, Kin of Hawk. He was injured by the goblin attacks. Could your magic heal him?"

"My magic is unmatched in all of the Nine Realms," Amora said arrogantly.

She waved her arms. A lime-green light began to radiate from Jim's body. The scratch on his arm faded away, as did the gash on his forehead. When the light faded, the soreness that had gripped his body was gone. In fact, Jim felt fantastic, better than he ever had felt.

"Wow, thank you," Jim said, "I feel amazing!"

"Of course you do," Amora stated, "My magic healed your body of all physical injuries. Is it not impressive, Thor? I doubt even Loki could manage such a spell!"

Thor's jolly demeanour seemed to turn heavy at the mention of Loki, whomever that may be.

"I do not know, Amora," Thor sighed, "Loki has always been the more competent sorcerer betwixt the two of you."

At that comment, Amora's face flushed with anger.

"You have too much faith in your brother, Thor," Amora sneered, "He is not a powerful as you might think."

With that statement, Amora whirled around and walked away.

"Who is Loki?" Jim asked after Amora had left.

"My brother," Thor answered, "Not by blood, however. He was a frost giant that my father took under his wing and raised as his own. We were raised alongside each other, but our lives took very different paths. He went down a very dark path. He tried to enslave all of Midgard. Now, he is imprisoned in the dungeons of the castle, awaiting judgement from my father for a suitable punishment for his sins."

There was a long pause as Thor bit back tears in his eyes.

"I just want my brother back," he sighed.

"I'm sorry," Jim replied, regretting having brought up the subject and hoping to change it to a more light-hearted conversation, "So, you and Amora? She seems like she really likes you. Are you two a couple?"

Thor chuckled, his jolly mood returning.

"No, we are not, though I do not doubt that Amora wishes that we were," Thor said, "However, my heart belongs to another. She is a woman on Midgard named Jane Foster. I have not seen her in a long while. The last time that I visited Midgard, I was too preoccupied with Loki to visit her, but, when I take you to see my friend, I shall pay her a visit as well."

"What is this Midgard place that you keep talking about?" Jim asked.

"Midgard is another world," Thor stated.

* * *

Amora angrily stole into her chambers. The blonde sorceress looked at her reflection in the mirror on her vanity. She fired a blast of her green magic at it in frustration, shattering it into thousands of pieces.

"You're angry," a female voice spoke up, "Magnificent. Anger is an exquisite vessel for dark magic. It will allow you to grow even stronger."

"What does it matter?" Amora spat, turning to face the woman, "Despite all of the powers that you taught me, despite everything that I do, Thor's mind and heart are always elsewhere. Every step that I take is a mistake in his eyes. He will never truly be mine."

"Love is weakness, Amora," the woman replied, "Power is the only thing that can truly supplement the soul."

"I just don't know what to do," Amora sighed.

"What is this uncertainty?" the woman asked in disgust, "Where is the promising young woman who I gave the secrets of the dark arts to? Perhaps I should have chosen Loki as my acolyte in this world, instead."

"Perhaps you should have!" Amora shouted back at the woman, "I want to be myself! I don't want to be you!"

Amora sat down on the end of an ornate couch and dropped her face into the palms of her hands. The other woman's cold green hands rested upon Amora's shoulders, sending a chill through her body.

"I apologize, Amora," the woman said in a tone far less harsh than the one she used before, "I did not mean to further upset you. Thor shall be yours in due time. All that we must do is see that this world falls to our command. After that, he will be your pet to do with what you please."

"Thank you, Maleficent, your words come as a great comfort."

* * *

"If this Midgard place is another world," Jim began, "Why don't we just take my ship there?"

Thor dismounted his horse a few yards away from the large metal sphere that Jim had spotted in the distance earlier. Jim did the same.

"Midgard is dimensions away," Thor explained, "It would take weeks to sail there by ship. Travelling by the Bifrost is much more expedient."

"The Bifrost?" Jim asked.

"It is a device created by my people," Thor explained, "It is known to some as the 'Rainbow Bridge'. It fires a blast of concentrated energy, creating a wormhole that can transport the user to any of the Nine Realms connected to Yggdrasil, the tree of life, though my people have since learned that there are other worlds in the multiverse that the Bifrost does not connect to, the Chituari world for instance and presumably your world as well. However, the Bifrost can be quite destructive. If left on for too long, it will tear a world apart. I had to destroy it over a year ago in order to save Jotunheim."

"Why didn't you just turn off the Bifrost?" Jim questioned.

Thor looked down at that question.

"It was another of Loki's sins," Thor stated, "Loki used magic to prevent the Bifrost from closing. He wanted to destroy Jotunheim, because, somewhere in his unsound mind, he believed that doing so would earn our father's praise."

Jim mentally slapped himself for bringing up something about Loki around Thor again. He could tell that it was a sensitive area, and he really didn't want to poke at it. From everything that Jim had heard, Loki sounded like a real nut-job, and he secretly hoped that he would never have to find out just how crazy this man was."

"So, you destroyed this thing?" Jim said, "But, you've obviously rebuilt it."

"Yes," Thor nodded, "It has taken some time, but the Asgardian scholars were able to repair it, using the power of the Tesseract, a powerful cosmic cube that acts as a gateway to the other side of the universe."

Bifrost. Jotunheim. Tesseract. Jim wondered how any of the Asgardians could keep track of all of these bizarrely named objects. Thor led Jim past the dark-skinned man with amber eyes and golden armor that acted as the gatekeeper of the Bifrost. This man, apparently named Heimdall, activated the large mechanical device with his sword. Lightning surged around the dome, creating the image of a large tree. The metal sides of the dome appeared to be spinning fiercely. Morph hunkered down on Jim's shoulders, afraid of what was transpiring. At the side of the dome was a large swirl of rainbow-colored lights spinning faster and faster with each second.

"Brace yourself," said Thor with a chuckle.

Immediately after, Jim felled as though he was yanked forward and shot from a large cannon. Rainbow colored lights swirled around him, making Jim feel more and more dizzy. However, only a second later, he and Thor were standing firmly on solid ground. Jim's head continued to spin violently and he collapsed to the ground, unable to stand up straight. Morph melted into a puddle on the ground, with a long, drawn out sigh. Jim fought back the urge to vomit, and took several deep breaths. Thor chuckled.

"You never forget your first time on the Bifrost," Thor stated.

Jim shot him a dirty look, or, at least, he attempted to, but he wasn't sure if it came off that way with the entire world spinning around him. As the motion sickness began to wear off and Jim stood up, he saw that they were on the rooftop of some kind of skyscraper. Looking around him, he could see that they were in the middle of a huge urban area. The surrounding area was all under heavy construction. It looked like a natural disaster had recently hit. The sound of metal hitting concrete rang in Jim's ear, prompting him to turn around. Behind them stood a man wearing what looked like red and gold knight armor.

"Hey, Shakespeare," the main spoke up, obviously addressing Thor, "Please don't fire giant space lasers at the roof of my building. People will talk."

"Tony Stark!" Thor bellowed happily, "It is good to see you again."

The armored figure removed his helmet, revealing himself to have a strikingly handsome face with black hair, a goatee, beautiful brown eyes, and a smirk that would make men and women alike swoon.

"What brings you to this neighborhood?" Tony asked, "And who is this? Thor, don't tell me you're keeping a boy-toy, now. That's just not kosher."

"This is Jim, Kin of Hawks," Thor stated, "He is a friend of mine from another world. He was wondering if you could help him repair his robotic friend."

Tony's gaze moved over to over to Jim. Immediately, Jim's knees began to feel weak. He wasn't sure if it was the motion sickness coming back or if it was Tony's eyes meeting his. Jim decided to make things easier on his mind by accepting the former.

"Let me guess, your last name is Hawkins?" Tony asked.

Jim nodded. Tony nodded back in response.

"I thought so," Tony said, "Goldilocks, here, doesn't really grasp the concept of last names. Anyways, why don't you guys step inside?"

Tony entered into a large, mechanical ring that quickly removed his armor. Jim could hardly avert his eyes from the incredible device... and if watching the strange device gave him am excuse to hold his gaze at Tony's body under the armor then all the better. Tony then led Thor and Jim down into his apartment. It was a large apartment, taking up the entire top floor of the skyscraper, which Tony apparently owned the entirety of. It looked brand new. It had been decorated to look very modern, and Jim found the entire room to feel very relaxing.

"You like the new decor?" Tony asked, his questioned aimed at Thor, "I had to do a little remodelling after your brother trashed the place."

"Yes," Thor said heavily, "I see that your New York is making progress in its reconstruction as well."

"Yep," Tony said as he poured himself a glass of scotch over at the mini-bar, "Stark Industries is funding most of the reconstruction efforts. It's a big mess, but I've got it covered. You guys want a drink?"

Thor and Jim both shook their heads. Tony shrugged and walked back over to them, the glass of scotch rested firmly in his hands.

"So how's your crazy brother's trial going?" Tony asked, "Any progress?"

Jim noticed that Tony was apparently much less considerate about bringing up Loki around Thor. He didn't seem too concerned with the blonde man's feelings.

"None," Thor said blankly, "Odin is conflicted."

"Nepotism at its finest," Tony stated.

Thor was about to respond when a voice not attached to any body echoed throughout the room.

"_Sir_," it said.

"Yes, JARVIS?" Tony asked.

"_It would seem that Red Ghost and the Super-Apes are robbing a bank in the Upper East Side._"

"Tell the local authorities that Iron Man and Thor are on their way," Tony instructed before turning back to Thor, "You ready for a little sequel to our last battle?"

"I certainly hope this one causes less property damages," Thor chuckled.

"No promises," Tony laughed back, "Hey, kid, you can chill out here while we're gone. Just don't touch anything."

"But I-"

"We shall not be long," Thor assured him.

Jim wanted to argue further, but the two men ran out quickly, like excited children on Christmas morning.

Great. Sidelined already.


	3. Stark Reality

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait period. A bit of writer's block over here. I've ended up shifting some things around a bit in my plan. I think it'll be for the best this way.**

* * *

"I could have helped," Jim complained to Morph, "It's not like I'm some inept kid. I saved an entire crew of people from a fiery death on Treasure Planet. Did Thor do that?"

Morph made a little noise in response.

"Ok, well, maybe he's done a lot more," Jim conceded, "But the point is that I'm a hero too. Ok, so those freaky goblin creatures slaughtered my crew. That doesn't mean that _I'm_ incompetent!"

Morph made another squeaking noise as if to say "of course not".

"But... maybe it does, Morph," Jim continued, "I was the captain of that ship. And, well, look at what happened. I failed to protect my crew. I was a shitty captain and that cost all of those people their lives! It's just... ugh!"

Jim threw himself onto the leather sofa and rubbed his eyes. Morph nuzzled up on the side of his face. Jim let out a light laugh.

"Thanks Morph," Jim said with a half-smile.

Tony and Thor returned about an hour later from their battle with the "Red Ghost". They were laughing boisterously while making fun of their opponent and high-fiving each other for their successful battle.

"Looks like the cavalry is back," Jim whispered to Morph. The pink blob let out what sounded like a giggle.

"Kin of Hawk, our battle was a success," Thor chuckled.

"You know, it's extremely hilarious when a gorilla gets struck by lightning," Tony laughed a little, "And I'm totally gonna be in deep shit from animal rights activists after that footage goes on the evening news."

"Truly they doth bring shame to monkeys everywhere," Thor chuckled.

"Anyways, now before Red Ghost so rudely interrupted us," Tony began, "You were talking to me about a robot that needs fixing?"

"Yeah," Jim said, picking up the bag filled with B.E.N.'s remains, "The technology used to build him has been lost in my galaxy for hundreds of years. I can easily repair functional mobility myself, but his central processing unit and artificial intelligence are lost to me."

"Well, let's start by getting basic reconstruction of the skeletal frame of him put together," Tony suggested, "From there, we can figure out the more technical aspects of the robot and see if we can't repair or recreate the mother board. Then we can do a little bit of tuning to make sure that all servers and functions are replying correctly."

Thor seemed thoroughly lost throughout this entire conversation.

"Technology," he spat, "At any rate, Kin of Hawk, this is where we must part ways. I am off to the Newer Mexico to visit Jane Foster. I shall return in three days time. Tony Stark, make sure that he's safe."

"No promises, Goldilocks," Tony laughed.

The two shook hands, as did Thor and Jim, and Thor flew off into the distance.

"I don't need keeping safe," Jim said, "I can take care of myself."

"Ha! Cute, but you're seventeen and exactly how I was at that age. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Strangely, Jim was not opposed to this, mostly since it was Tony that had said it.

* * *

Amora watched Thor leaving to reunite with Jane Foster in a crystal ball that she kept in her chambers for the purpose of spying on Thor. The Enchantress gritted her teeth in anger at Thor's love for Jane Foster.

"Why does he love her?" Amora asked out loud, "Why, in the name of Hel, does he obsess over this mortal whore, and not reciprocate my own love?!"

"Your own love?" a woman's voice from behind her laughed, "Surely, you have a long way to go before you become an Overlord. After all, my dear, love is weakness!"

Amora turned around to see two figures stepping out of the swirling mass of dark energy known as a Corridor of Darkness. The Corridors of Darkness were pathways that those affiliated with the darkness could use to travel between worlds. Of the two figures standing in the room, one was a woman who looked to be in her fifties, while the other was a man who looked to be in his early thirties. The woman had dark brown hair that she wore up. She was dressed in an ornate maroon and purple gown with silver trimming. The man had short, ebony hair and a scruffy goatee. He wore an all black leather attire, and, in place of his left hand, was a shimmering, silver hook. To the untrained eye, they would not have looked too terribly out-of-place in Asgardian society, but Amora knew better.

"Who are you two?" Amora inquired.

The woman stepped forward, with a pleasant smile that made her look like a kindly old woman. But Amora knew that anyone allied with the Overlords had to be extremely dangerous, so this smile had to be a clever façade.

"My name is Cora, dear," the woman said in a sweet sounding voice that very nearly lulled Amora in with its surface kindness, "Maleficent has sent me in her stead to aid your plans. And this is my valet, Captain Hook."

"Partner," Hook corrected, "Our alliance is only based on mutual goals, remember?"

"Oh, of course, how silly of me," Cora corrected, although Amora saw right through that lie.

"What does Maleficent want from me?" Amora inquired.

"Straight to the point, aren't we Amora?" Cora laughed lightly, "I respect that. There is a boy who travelled to this world. His name is Jim Hawkins. He has an... object that we require."

"What is it?" Amora asked suspiciously.

"That's classified information," Cora stated, "All that you need to know if that he keeps it inside of a metal sphere with ancient carvings on it."

"I cannot steal it from him," Amora stated, "The stench of my magic would be all over the crime. Thor would find me out and the entire operation that Maleficent and I have weaved together would unravel, especially since the boy is now on Midgard."

"Very well," Cora replied, "Then I'll just need for you to create a locator spell. After all, you're the only one who has encountered the boy. Just put together the spell and give it to Hook."

"Me?" Hook asked, "This wasn't a part of our deal, Cora!"

"The object that Hawkins possesses is not only useful for the Overlords," Cora stated, "With it, we can find the Land Without Magic so that we can travel there by conventional means."

"I still don't see why you can't simply open a Corridor of Darkness to get us there," Hook complained.

"As I have already explained to you," Cora began, "To open a Corridor of Darkness in a world, that world has to be a world with magic. This world where your crocodile dwells is a land without magic. Thus, we couldn't open the other side of the Corridor. Now, if you're quite through complaining, might we please get on with this?"

Hook was silent from then on. Amora walked over to Captain Hook and touched her hand lightly to his hook. Much to her shock, Hook jerked away from her.

"I'm rather possessive of my hook," he stated.

Cora rolled her eyes.

"It's only going to be a light enchantment," Amora explained, "It'll shimmer whenever you get close to Hawkins."

Hook reluctantly agreed and allowed Amora to enchant his Hook.

"Now then," Cora smiled.

She waved her arms and opened a Corridor of Darkness leading to Midgard. Hook walked briskly through the portal and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

Night fell on New York City, and Jim and Tony were still actively working on B.E.N. The two managed to entirely reconstruct the robot's "body". Now came the hard part: reconstructing the robot's mind. As scattered and eccentric as B.E.N. was, Jim did actually really like B.E.N., quirks and all. He had no desire to change the robot. Even if the robot was flawed, he had a certain spirit to him that made him friends with Jim.

Tony took a swig of his scotch as he looked at the holographic diagram that he had put together earlier to mark what was needed. He muttered to himself in inaudible technobabble, and, in the dim lights of the work shop against the black skies outside, Tony had never looked more attractive to Jim. Jim quickly shook off the thought and returned to piecing back together B.E.N.'s optic sensors. However, occasionally his eyes drifted back towards Tony.

"Well, the 'lost technology' on your robot guy is actually very similar to the hardware that I developed for JARVIS," Tony explained, "Of course, applying that technology to an actual moving robot involves shrinking it down to unprecedented levels. I've yet to have any success in that regard."

"Damn," Jim cursed under his breath as his stomach sank.

"Hey, kid, I said 'yet'," Tony corrected with a smirk, "I'm confident that I can crack the code within the next few days, especially with the remnant's of B.E.N.'s central processing unit at my disposal."

Jim's hopes rose once more.

"Thank you," Jim said, "For... everything."

"Hey, thank me after I fix your robot guy," Tony snickered.

The pair continued to work on constructing a replica of B.E.N.'s motherboard. The night grew deeper and darker, but the city never seemed to sleep. Jim yawned and looked at a clock. The clock read 1:44 AM.

"It's really getting late," Jim commented.

"If you want to sleep, you can take the guest room," Tony stated, never looking away from his work, "The sheets have been changed since the last person slept in there."

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Jim asked.

"I don't sleep when I'm immersed in a project," Tony replied as he removed several details from his hologram, "I've got too many algorithms and designs bouncing around in my head to sleep. It's like shutting down a computer in the middle of a download."

"Huh?" Jim asked.

"Er... computers are... y'know what, I've had this discussion with both Steve AND Thor already," Tony groaned and he drew in new details and circuits where he had erased the old ones, "Basically they're earth robots used to collect information. But anyways, good night. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

As much as the expression confused him, one thing was clear to Jim: he was being sidelined again. He could not let it happen again. He had to show Tony that he was capable of holding his own.

"I never said I was going to bed," Jim said, "Sleep deprivation must already be getting to a man of your age, gramps. I just wanted to make sure that you were ok. I can go all night long."

"Gramps, really? Ok, rat-tail," Tony smirked as he flicked Jim's ponytail, "Go brew us a pot of coffee then. It's gonna be a long night."

True to Tony's words, the pair ended up working over the robot until the sun began to peek out from the eastern horizon. Jim rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. 6:23 AM.

"Alright," Tony began, "I'm not sure, but I think we might have made B.E.N. fully operational once again. All that we have to do is attach the arc reactor."

"Arc reactor?" Jim asked with a puzzled look.

"It's a power source technology that I developed," Tony explained, "It's clean and efficient. Just the way I like it. B.E.N.'s old power source is just plain garbage. Plus, I like to leave a little bit of a signature on my projects."

"Fair enough," Jim nodded.

Tony went down on one knee and presented the arc reactor to Jim.

"Would you please do the honors?" Tony asked.

Jim smiled and took the reactor and attached it in B.E.N.'s chest cavity. The reactor began to glow blue as power surged through B.E.N. once more. The robot's appendages began to twitch, and slowly it began to move. His optic sensors slowly lit up. And then, in complete contrast to all of the slowness that happened before, B.E.N. jolted upright and, of course, immediately began to talk.

"OH MY GOD, JIMMY, THAT WAS THE CRAZIEST NAP I'VE EVER HAD!" B.E.N. shouted.

"Oh dear," Tony said while rubbing his ears, "Something must've gone wrong with his voice box."

Jim snickered a bit.

"No, that's his actual voice," Jim clarified, "Trust me, you get used it."

"Huh?" B.E.N. asked, visibly very confused.

"Well it's definitely not conducive to a self deprived man with a mild hangover," Tony said as he headed for the elevator, "You want breakfast?"

"Sure!" Jim replied before turning back to B.E.N., "Hey, B.E.N., could you... uh... give us a little time alone? There's some polycarbonate discs over there on the shelf that make music when a laser is run over it, and the digital signal stored on it is converted into a sound pattern."

"OH BOY!" B.E.N. shouted, running over to the shelves.

Jim darted over to Tony and stood next to him on the elevator. The metal doors slowly slid shut with a "ding". Tony pressed a button marked "L" which lit up and began to glow a light blue, and the elevator began its descent.

"Thank you," Jim began, "So much, for... everything."

"Hey, it's no big deal," Tony replied, "It was kinda fun figuring out how advanced alien technology works."

"No, it is a big deal," Jim responded, "B.E.N. might be annoying sometimes, but he's family to me. He's a tie back to my home and a reminder of who I am. And... and you... you gave that back to me. You've been my knight in shining armor."

Jim looked up into Tony's handsome brown eyes and allowed himself to be swept up by the moment. Jim leaned his head towards Tony as if to kiss him, but Tony backed away. Jim stopped, and looked up at Tony.

"I- I'm sorry," Tony said, "I hope you didn't get the wrong idea."

"N-no, I'm sorry," Jim replied, backing up slightly, "I just got caught up in the moment, and..."

"You don't have to apologize," Tony interrupted, "I just... we... this is great how it is."

Jim nodded, afraid to look at Tony in the eyes again. The elevator "dinged" again and opened up, breaking the awkward silence. Jim and Tony stepped off of the elevator, and walked in an awkward silence out into the parking garage. However, as the two proceeded forward, they were suddenly forced backwards by the materialization of three flurries of green flames that yielded three hideous goblins.

"About time you two came out of the tower," a british man's voice behind them echoed in the garage, "I was getting sick of waiting around."

Tony and Jim turned around to face a handsome man with short, ebony hair and a scruffy goatee. He wore an all black leather attire, and, in place of his left hand, was a shimmering, silver hook.

"Who the Hell are you?" Tony inquired.

"The name's Killian Jones," he replied with a devilish grin, "But most have taken to calling me by my more colorful moniker: Captain Hook."


	4. Proving One's Worth

**A/N: Ah, fight scenes, we meet again...**

* * *

"Now then, let's move past formalities and cut to the chase," Hook mused out loud.

"Let Jim go, Hook," Tony commanded, "There's no need to involve him."

"You are as narcissistic as the tabloids say, I see," Hook smirked, "I'm not here for you. I'm here for Jim."

Jim's stomach sank. What did this man want with him? Was he the one that sent out the goblins before. There was only one thing Jim could think to say.

"Then let Tony go!"

Hook threw his head back and laughed devilishly.

"Obviously, you don't understand how this works," Hook began, "He's the hostage. In this situation, I make the demands and you oblige. Because, if not, things just get a little too messy."

Jim looked at Tony whose eyes were glazed with concern. Jim wasn't sure if it was concern for his own life or for Jim's.

"Then... what are your demands?" Jim asked.

"See? Now we're making progress," Hook replied, "What I want from you is a metal sphere. It has ancient carvings on it and it contains something that my benefactor wants."

"Your benefactor?" Jim asked, hoping to buy as much time as possible to think of a way out, "Who is that?"

"Not telling," Hook whispered, "Do you honestly think me stupid, boy?"

"Well, yes," Jim responded with a smirk.

Hook's nostrils flared with anger and he glared daggers at Jim.

"I mean, you're attacking Tony Stark," Jim continue, "A.K.A. Iron Man. We might not be in his building, but Tony Stark has always got some technology to get out of a situation."

"You're both rather genuinely trapped," Hook stated.

"But, for how long?" Jim posed the question, "You can't hold Tony Stark hostage."

"Then I'll just have to kill him," Hook replied, "How does that sound, love?"

"Go for it," Jim replied, "I'm calling your bluff. If you kill him, you'll just be throwing away your bargaining chip. Then what incentive do I have to coöperate with you?"

Hook and Jim locked eyes. Jim made sure that his stare never faltered. He had to show Hook that he was in control of the situation. Jim began to speak again as his hand slowly drifted towards his pistol, moving so discretely that Hook wouldn't notice.

"You might want to surrender now," Jim warned, "Because I don't think your... umm... benefactor will take too kindly to you failing."

"Plus, I mean, if you stick around for a fight," Tony interjected, "I can't guarantee you'll live through it. I kinda have a bad habit of killing super villains that I fight."

Hook's cold demeanour faltered slightly. Death was clearly something that he did, in fact, fear. Jim knew he could use that.

"Oh, and, did we forget to mention that we're friends with _Thor_?" Jim added, "You know, the friggin' **_God of Thunder_**?! I don't think you're likely to survive that."

Hook seemed to be considering his options. Jim hoped he had managed to make the pirate doubt himself. Jim's hand reached his pistol.

"You're going to give me the sphere or so help me, I'll-"

Jim whipped his pistol out and shot Hook in the right knee, cutting off the pirate's threat. Hook cried out in pain and sank to the ground. The goblins, now without the command to hold back, began to charge towards Tony and Jim.

"Run!" Jim shouted.

He didn't have to tell Tony twice. The two ran past Hook in the direction that they came: up the ramp to the next level. The three goblins ran after them in hot pursuit.

"Can't you just shoot those things," Tony asked, without stopping his sprint into the upper deck of the parking garage.

"No," Jim replied, also keeping up his jog, "My laser pistol has no effect on them."

The goblins continued to pursue them, but the were much slower and couldn't keep up.

"So, how do we beat them?" Tony asked.

"I'm not sure," Jim admitted, "Thor beat them with lightning last time."

"Great...," Tony replied sarcastically., "Because that's such an easy thing to muster up."

Jim looked forward again, and spotted something that might just be the answer to their prayers: a high voltage electrical box attached to the wall.

"Tony, go hide behind a car," Jim ordered.

"Kid, what are you-"

"Just do it!" Jim commanded.

The force behind his voice was enough to make even the great Tony Stark obey. Tony ran and hid behind a black corvette. Jim stood in front of the electric box. The goblins rounded the corner to see Jim. They hollered and squealed as they ran closer towards their prey.

"Hey uglies," Jim shouted, "Come and get me!"

The goblin that resembled a large humanoid pig reached Jim first. He took his lance and lunged forward towards Jim's chest. Tony's heart skipped a beat as he watched Jim masterfully roll out of the way, leaving the goblin to penetrate the electric box with his lance. The metal weapon conducted the electricity and sent a high voltage charge of electricity searing through the goblin. The creature howled in pain and dissolved into ash before their very eyes. The other two goblins grunted and squealed with anger over their fallen comrade.

"Alright!" Jim cheered.

The other two goblins charged towards Jim, growling with anger. When they passed a black corvette, Tony jumped out and kicked the one closest to him square in the jaw. The creature tumbled to the ground, dropping its sword in the process. The goblin scrambled to his feet, but Jim dove for the sword before the goblin could get to it. Jim jabbed the sword forward, piercing the chest of the goblin. It howled in pain and dissolved into ash, just as the previous goblin had done.

"You can kill them with their own weapons!" Jim announced.

"Noted!" Tony replied, dodging the swing of his opponent's battle-axe.

Tony dodged a second swing of the axe, and, as the goblin attempted to regain balance, he grabbed on to the handle of the axe. He struggled with the goblin to loosen the axe from the creature's grip. The goblin's strength seemed to be winning out, and Tony was sure that once the goblin broke free of his grip, that he would find the battle-axe bisecting him. However, the goblin suddenly cried out in pain and dissolved into a pile of ash. Tony saw Jim holding the sword where the goblin had just been.

"You're welcome," Jim said, dropping the sword to the ground.

"Jim, I just... well...," Tony began, "Thank you... for saving my life twice now."

"Well, I mean, it's the least I could do," Jim replied, "I mean after you helped me with B.E.N. and then I made everything awkward earlier."

"Don't sweat that," Tony stated, "It was just a little accident. You were just swept up in the moment. Plus, I mean, who could resist Tony Stark?"

Jim laughed lightly in response. He was relieved that Tony had handled the whole thing so relaxed. It made the awkward situation a little bit easier.

* * *

Hook struggled to his feet, trying with great difficulty to keep from putting too much weight on his injured leg. Every time he moved the leg, it felt like knives were being jabbed into his knee.

"My dear Captain, you have failed, it would seem," Cora stated from behind him.

Hook took a deep breath. Her arrival was most inopportune.

"You failed," she repeated blankly.

"He pulled a fast one over on me," Hook explained without turning around, "He's a clever little bilge rat, that's for certain. Now, use your magic to heal my knee."

"Awww," Cora replied with a mocking pout present in her voice, "Did the poor captain hurt his knee?"

Cora moved her hand up. It crackled with magic, and a blue aura encircled Hook's knee. However, instead of the relieving feel of a healing spell, his knee felt like it was being constricted. The pain was so intense that Hook cried out in agony as he sank back down to the ground.

"First of all," Cora began, her tone shifting to a much harsher one, "You do not order me to do anything. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Hook managed to grunt in between cries of pain.

"Second," Cora continued, "I do not accept failure as an option. Your task wasn't some simple errand that I assigned you to waste time. It was a task for the progression of the Overlords' goals. I don't think I have to remind you how critical the continued success of the Overlord is to all of us."

"Wha-what was so... so important about the map," Hook forced himself to speak.

Cora put down her hand. Hook's knee felt relief as the tight squeezing went away. The knee was still in incredible pain, but at least Cora was no longer making it worse.

"A map," she answered, "One that will lead us straight to the Armageddon Key."


	5. Sins of the Brother

**A/N: So, I finally got to Loki's introduction. I'm super excited for this and the direction that it's going. Also, have I mentioned yet how fun writing for Cora is?**

That night, after Jim foiled Hook's attack, Tony and Jim sat awake on the leather sofas in Tony's apartment. B.E.N. was in power saving mode over in a corner while Morph was snoozing away in Jim's pocket. Tony, of course, was gulping down his third scotch of the night, while Jim was sipping at some kind of orange soda that had been sitting in Tony's refrigerator for God knows how long.

"When I was twelve, my dad left," Jim shared, "Although it wasn't much different from the usual afterwards. He was never there for me growing up, anyways. All the same, things got harder on my mom after that. Her smile seemed to fade away."

"Eh, dads are useless anyways," Tony said with a sip of his drink, "My dad was always emotionally distant too. He was never there for me either. He died when I was 20."

"I'm sorry," Jim replied.

"Hey, it's no big deal," Tony shrugged.

"Sometimes I wish my dad _had_ just died," Jim confessed, "It's the knowing that he just didn't care enough to stick around and the not knowing what ever happened to him that really eats me sometimes."

Tony nodded in understanding.

"Hey, Jim," Tony said, "Don't let your dad being missing ever hold you back. Mine was never there for me, and look where I am today. I know, I probably sound like I'm bragging, but, here's my point: you're in control of your own destiny. It doesn't matter what happened to your father. You choose your own path."

"Thank you," Jim said.

Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but Tony's words still hit home with Jim. Tony had a similar situation with his father, and he turned out to be a superhero. Plus, becoming like Tony Stark? He could most certainly do worse for himself.

* * *

"The Odinsleep is almost upon us," Amora said to Cora and Hook, "It'll only be another day, now. As I discussed with Maleficent, Asgard is vulnerable during this time. This is when we must strike."

"And we're to slay Odin where he lies?" Hook inquired.

Cora put up her hand to silence him.

"You're thinking too small, Hook," Cora explained, "During this time, Odin will not be able to defend his kingdom. By no means will Asgard be powerless, but it will be down its most obstructive line of defense. We can open Corridors of Darkness and allow frost giants into Asgard in addition to our goblins. With all of that pandemonium, Odin will be relatively defenseless, and we can take the Odinforce for ourselves."

"Why does Maleficent need the Odinforce?" Hook inquired, "As I understand it, following the Keyblade genocide, she took all of their powers for herself. Surely she is stronger than Odin."

"By a small margin, yes," Cora replied, "But Odin is one of the few world leaders that managed to repel Maleficent's forces when the Overlords came into power. Odin was able to prevent her conquest of the Nine Realms of Yggdrasil, but only because Maleficent wisely withdrew her forces. While she could have bested Odin in a direct clash, it would have cost a hefty price that she was unwilling pay."

"So that's why she approached me in my dreams," Amora said, "She decided to continue the attack through subterfuge, lulling the Asgardians into a false sense of security while placing a traitor in the House of Odin. And, as Loki proved when he snuck the frost giants into the armory on Thor's would-be coronation day, Heimdall cannot see the Corridors of Darkness until it is too late."

Cora smiled devilishly.

"They don't call her the Mistress of All Evil for nothing," Cora laughed lightly.

* * *

Thor returned the next day. Tony couldn't stop talking about how impressive Jim had been against Hook and the goblins. Truthfully, he was starting to embarrass Jim a little, but the praise was definitely a welcome change from being treated like a child. Thor informed Jim that they had to return to Asgard immediately because his father was about to enter something called the Odinsleep. Thor, Jim, Morph, and B.E.N. said their good-byes to Tony and went up to the top of Stark Towers. Heimdall opened the Bifrost and pulled them through back to Asgard. B.E.N. was ridiculously disoriented by the whole experience and was noticeably louder than usual upon returning to Asgard.

"Kin of Hawk," Thor said to Jim, "I shall escort you and your robotic companion up to your ship, and you may be on your way."

"You shall not have time," Heimdall's booming voice echoed in the metal dome.

"WHAT DOES HE MEAN, JIMMY?" B.E.N. shrieked.

"Hush," Jim said.

"What dost thou mean, friend Heimdall?" Thor asked, puzzled.

"Odin is lying down for the Odinsleep as we speak," Heimdall explained, "He is waiting for your arrival at his bedside, but he cannot hold it off for long."

"Go to your dad," Jim said, "It's okay. We can wait a little while longer."

Thor nodded and flew with Jim and B.E.N. on either arm to the Asgardian palace. Once, inside the palace, Thor left B.E.N. and Jim in a corridor while he went into a private room. Unfortunately, this hallway's echo magnified B.E.N.'s already loud voice. Jim had learned to tolerate and even appreciate B.E.N.'s unique personality long ago, but when B.E.N. couldn't stop yammering on about how much fun flying over Asgard was, Jim found him wearing on his last nerve. After twenty minutes inside the private room, Thor exited.

"He has entered the Odinsleep," Thor announced.

"What exactly is the Odinsleep?" Jim inquired.

"Once a year, my father enters a week-long sleep to replenish his power," Thor explained, "This, in turn, gives life to Asgard. But, during this time, Asgard is vulnerable to attack. It was during the last Odinsleep that Loki made his attack on Jotunheim with the Bifrost."

"Must be some nap," Jim commented.

Morph gurgled on Jim's shoulder in agreement.

"Indeed," Thor replied, "Which is why I must make your escort back to your ship expedient. I'll need to be on high alert here, in the city to ensure Asgard's safety."

"Prince Thor!" a voice called out.

Thor and Jim turned to see a guard walking swiftly towards them.

"Yes?" Thor said.

"It is Loki, sire," the guard said, immediately causing Thor's face to become much heavier, "He has requested an audience."

"I shall speak with him when I return," Thor stated.

"But, sire," the guard said, "Loki seeks an audience with who he called 'the boy from Montressor'."

"How does he know my word?" Jim pondered out loud.

"I forbid it," Thor bellowed, "Loki is too dangerous."

"Thor, I can handle my self," Jim argued, suddenly feeling like he was being treated like a child again.

"You are not prepared to deal with Loki," Thor explained, "My brother is no goblin or pirate. He is master of playing mind games."

"But, Thor," Jim argued, "He asked for me specifically. I'm on a quest trying to find a close friend of mine. If Loki knows what world I'm from, then maybe he knows my friend. And, if that's the case, you have to let me talk with him."

Thor seemed to consider this for a moment.

"Very well," Thor finally said with a heavy sigh, "But I shall stay in the room with you both to supervise. That is not up for discussion."

* * *

In the icy ruins of the Temple of Jotunheim, a Corridor of Darkness opened. Cora stepped out and, upon realizing that her clothing was much more suited to the Asgardian climate than the weather in Jotunheim, used her magic to transfigure her dress into a think robe of bear fur with a little fur hat. A large, bearded frost giant covered in ice sat upon an immense throne and looked down upon the tiny woman standing within his temple.

"Great Ymir," Cora called out, "I have come to you with a proposition."

Ymir growled and leaned forward.

"No," Ymir's voice echoed throughout the temple, "We shall accept no further bargains. The one called Loki offered the former king, Laufey, such a bargain, and it resulted in the king's assassination and the great death from the sky."

"Oh, but you'll want to hear this," Cora shouted up, "I'm offering you vengeance, a chance to spill the blood of Asgardians the way they spilled the blood of your people, a chance to make the one who deceived you writhe in agony the way that a traitor soul, and a chance to slay the king of Asgard the way that your king was slain."

"Never before has such suffering been imposed upon Jotunheim," Ymir growled, "Never, in seven thousand years, have I been forced to lead the Jotuns. My duty is to be the cornerstone of Jotun ideology, to be their spiritual leader. I leave such matters of politics to lesser Jotuns. Yet, with all of my people's suffering, I have been forced to take direct command."

"The union of politics and faith is a powerful one," Cora stated, "What easier way to motivate the people than by making the cause holy? And if there is promise of vengeance along the way? Well, let's just say that you will be able to unify your people as never before."

"What is your offer, lesser being?" Ymir inquired.

"I'm sure you are familiar with Corridors of Darkness," Cora said, "I shall open up several Corridors within Jotunheim that link to Asgard. They cannot be detected by Heimdall, so your people can enter the city and begin your raid. You'll have the element of surprise on your side this time. And, not to mention, your men will not be fighting alone. My goblins will be helping your soldiers. Asgard won't know what hit it."

"And what makes you think our endeavour will be a success?" Ymir inquired.

"It is the time of the Odinsleep, Ymir," Cora said.

An immense, wicked grin cracked onto Ymir's face.

* * *

Thor and Jim entered into the dark and gloomy looking dungeon. In stark contrast to the rest of the castle, this room looked to be made entirely of stone and was poorly lit by two torches. At the end of the room was what appeared to be an iron gate. Half of the area beyond the gate was shrouded in darkness.

"Apparently, when I requested to speak with the boy alone, I didn't make myself clear enough," said a voice from the shadows behind the gate, "What I meant was that I had no desire of speaking to oafish family members who no longer have any reason to pry into my business."

A man that Jim assumed to be Loki stepped out of the shadows. When Jim was finally able to get a good enough look at Loki, he was surprised by how contradictory Thor's brother's appearance was. Prison had clearly taken a toll on Loki. He was extremely thin and his features seemed almost sunken in. Yet, Loki still carried himself in a fashion befitting of a prince and something about Loki struck Jim as being extremely handsome. Perhaps it was Loki's piercing green eyes. They had a look of mischief about them in a similar yet, at the same time, completely different fashion to Tony's eyes.

"Do you think me a fool, brother?" Thor asked, "I love and care for you, but you have proven yourself to be untrustworthy time and time again. No. I shall remain here to protect Jim, Kin of Hawk, from your deceit."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"For Odin's sake, Thor," Loki began, "Please learn the concept of mortal surnames. They work different from our own, you know?"

"What did you want to speak with me about?" Jim asked Loki, not giving Thor time to incite an argument.

"I cannot speak in front of the oaf," Loki said, "I have information for your ears only."

"We are wasting our time, Jim," Thor said, putting his hand on Jim's shoulder, "We shall give him no more of it."

Thor began to escort Jim out.

"Too bad," Loki said, "I suppose the Overlords were destined to take possession of the Armageddon Key after all."

"What?" Jim asked, breaking away from Thor and running over to the gate, "What do you mean?"

"I shall say no more in front of the oaf," Loki replied stubbornly.

"Jim he's trying to trick you," Thor said, "He's setting you up."

"Thor," Jim said, "Please, trust me. I can handle this. But I have to hear what Loki has to say, and he won't talk in front of you."

Thor again looked conflicted.

"You shall have five minutes," Thor stated, "And not a second longer."

Thor turned around and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. A frightening silence descended upon the entire cell. Jim began to second guess if shutting himself in with a psychopathic sorcerer was his best choice.

"Quite an interesting cell, wouldn't you agree?" Loki spoke, breaking the silence, "It was designed to prevent magic use within."

Jim just stared forward.

"Tell me about the Armageddon Key," Jim said.

"Oooh, so forceful," Loki chuckled, "I admire that sort of spirit. It's fitting for a young hero."

"I'm no hero," Jim said, "I'm just trying to help a friend."

"And modesty, I see," Loki continued, "Another fine trait. Thor would do well to learn from you."

"Tell me about the Armageddon Key," Jim repeated.

"I met John Silver, long ago," Loki began to speak, "I was but a foolish young prince at the time. He was a young and ruthless pirate. He was quite driven, I must say, determined to find Flint's trove. We were allies, for certain. I do not know if you would call us friends, but I aided him along his quest. I hold myself partially responsible for the loss of his arm, leg, and eye."

"You did that to him?!" Jim asked.

"No, it was a spell gone awry," Loki explained, "But that is a story for another day."

"Then why are you telling me this?" Jim asked.

"I am getting there," Loki hissed, "At any rate, we met again years later. By that point, I was exiled, and my mind was being opened to the expanse of the universe. He, on the other hand, in addition to being exceptionally increased in girth, had softened. I'm not sure whether I'd attribute that to his meeting you or the fact that his dream to possess Flint's trove had come crumbling down. Either way, his heart bled in a most unbecoming manner. He was raving about the dangers of the Armageddon Key, about how it would spell the destruction of the universe. Hyperbolic, perhaps, but not altogether unwarranted."

"Do you know where the Key is?" Jim asked, "What about Silver? Do you know where he is?"

"Hmph," Loki scoffed, "Aren't you the one with the map? Or have you lost your course already?"

"I was attacked," Jim said defensively, "I was ambushed by-"

"The Overlords," Loki interrupted, "Yes, I am aware. They sent their dogs upon you, did they? And you were so weak as to fall to such pups?"

"Shut up!" Jim snapped.

"Oh my," Loki laughed, "So he does have a temper? Just like Silver, I might add. At any rate, while Silver and I do not exactly see eye to eye, we both agree that the Overlords are a problem that must be dealt with. Now listen and listen carefully."

Jim leaned in closer, more attentive than before.

"The Overlords are planning on making their move on Asgard during this Odinsleep," Loki stated, "Silver found out about their plans and passed that information on to me. While there is nothing that I would like more than to see this pathetic world come crumbling down upon its own pompous infrastructure, I do not wish for harm to befall my mother, and, despite his lies and treachery, I would not see my father perish under these circumstances. Also, I must add, Asgard rightfully belongs to me. I would not see the Overlords take it."

"And why tell me all of this?" Jim asked, "What can I do?"

Loki smirked devilishly and paced around along the gates.

"You have a destiny about you, whether you realize it or not," Loki said, "Silver certainly believed so, and I'd much rather see you paraded as a hero than Thor. The Overlords have a traitor in the House of Odin. The traitor is going to steal the Odinforce while all of Asgard is distracted by a force of invading frost giants."

A loud rumble could be heard from up above.

"That'll be the frost giant distraction," Loki said looking upward, "Remember what I have told you and ensure that you protect Odin from the Overlords. If you do not, I shall personally hunt you down and slide a knife into your neck."

Jim nodded and ran out of the cell. Loki sat back down in the darkness and smirked to himself.

"It would seem that the Chitauri invasion was not completely fruitless."


	6. Season of the Witch

**A/N: Let the battle begin! Almost done with this storylet. Just one more chapter to go.**

It was carnage.

War raged through the streets of Asgard as the powerful Asgardian warriors clashed against the fearsome Jotuns and hideous goblins. Blood ran through the streets. Thor was forced to abandon his position of keeping watch on Jim outside of Loki's cell to aid the others against the hoards of attacking forces. From high in the air, Thor caused bright streams of lightning to pour down and strike the goblins. Yet, they continued to come, as if there was no limit to their numbers. As the battle in the streets raged on, the other Asgardians were ignorant to the real battle going on inside the very walls of the palace...

* * *

"It is of the highest importance that we ensure Odin's safety," Frigga explained to Amora as she drew a sword, "While I have the utmost confidence that Thor will obliterate the attacking forces, the defense of my husband cannot be overlooked. If some assassin managed to slip into the castle, we would have to be the ones that would put a stop to them. I thank Odin that you are here with me. The others can go out and expend their energy fighting the attacking forces while we protect my husband in here."

"I understand, my queen," Amora bowed respectfully.

A swirl of dark smoke began to appear on the ground, causing Frigga to back away slowly and clutch harder around the hilt of her blade. The swirling black smoke morphed into a Corridor of Darkness and from the dark abyss within stepped Cora and Captain Hook.

"My apologies, your majesty," Cora said with a wicked smile on her face, "But I'm afraid that you won't have the opportunity to so nobly defend your husband."

"You shall not touch him!" Frigga declared, "Come, Amora, let us-"

Frigga let out a painful scream as she was blasted across the room from behind. Amora smirked wickedly at her handiwork. Frigga's vision blurred as she fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Jim ran down the hallways towards the chamber that Thor had entered earlier. The hallways were completely deserted. Jim didn't know whether to take this as a good sign or not. He arrived at the chamber where Odin was sleeping. He slowly cracked open the door and peered in. Inside was Amora drawing something on the ground around Odin. Jim gave a sigh of relief. If Amora was protecting him, then Odin would be safe. There was another woman in there with her. She was older with brown hair and an elaborate maroon dress. Jim assumed that she must have been Frigga, Thor's mother.

"Now then, dear," the brown-haired woman said, "Make sure that you do not leave off a single rune. If you do, Odin's power will fizzle out into the air and Maleficent won't be able to reap the benefits."

"Understood, Cora," Amora replied.

_Cora?_ Jim thought to himself, _Then she's not Thor's mother... And who is this Maleficent?_

"Well, well," a voice from behind Jim suddenly said, "What have we here? An eavesdropper?"

Jim turned around to find himself face to face with Captain Hook. The devilishly handsome pirate smirked and raised his hook above his head. As the captain brought the hook down towards his head, Jim dove into Odin's chambers to avoid a pointy reckoning. Of course, this put him cornered in a room with a murderous pirate and two evil witches. He had escaped immediate death by jumping into certain death. Cora moved her hand up, and Jim could feel himself being restrained and lifted up off the ground.

"Mr. Hawkins," Cora said in a pleasant voice that seemed directly contradictory to her current actions, "How nice of you to drop by. I've been looking forward to meeting you in person. I am Cora, Rank VI in the Overlords. I believe you have already been formally introduced to Hook and Amora. Now that we've concluded pleasantries, you have something that Maleficent wants: the golden sphere that John Silver sent you."

"And why the Hell would you think I'd just give it to you?" Jim asked defiantly.

"Such language!" Cora said in mock surprise, "Why, dear Jim, don't you know? The Overlords are the rulers of this multiverse. Our commands are law. Defying them is treason. Now, please, hand over the sphere."

Jim spat at Cora in defiance. The glob of spit landed on Cora's right shoe with a splat.

"Wrong answer," Cora said, the air of pleasantness fading.

Jim suddenly felt like a giant python was wrapping around him, constricting him. He found it was becoming harder to breathe, his blood flow was getting cut off, and his entire body was under extreme pressure. As the world around him began to turn black, he heard a familiar sound that he'd never been more happy to hear.

"HEY JIMMY!" B.E.N. shrieked as he ran into the room.

As B.E.N. entered the room, he accidentally ran right into Captain Hook, knocking the pirate down and causing B.E.N. to trip and roll across the room, knocking right into Cora. With her concentration broken, the tightness immediately vanished and Jim dropped to floor, gasping for air as it rushed back into his lungs.

"Oops, I'm sorry guys," B.E.N. apologized, thinking he had just plowed through friends of Jim, "I didn't mean any harm. Slippery floors and me just don't mix well."

Jim, seeing his opportunity while Cora was down, darted toward where Odin lay blissfully asleep, hoping to erase the runes on the ground. However, no sooner did he get up and he was blasted back by green energy.

"Did you forget about me, Kin of Hawk?" Amora asked with a smirk as she lowered her arm.

_Shit._ He had forgotten about her momentarily, and that was going to cost him. Cora and Hook had gotten to their feet and they didn't look too happy either. B.E.N. was still trying his hardest to apologize to Cora when the robot found himself being knocked out of the room by a blast of magic.

"Now then, before we were so rudely interrupted, where were we?" Cora asked, "Oh yes, that's right. Eliminating traitors to the Overlords."

Jim found himself face to face with a fireball coming from Cora's hand. Jim jumped out of the way, barely dodging it. It seared the bottom of his boot, melting off the sole of it. Jim reached for his pistol, but, just as he pulled it out, it flew out of his hands off to the side.

"None of that, now," Cora said, speaking as if she were a mother scolding a child.

Cora walked towards Jim menacingly, her eyes locked on his chest as she identified her target.

_This is the end._ Jim thought to himself. _I'm sorry, Silver. I wish I could have helped you._

Suddenly, a man burst into the room. He was middle-age, probably somewhere in his fifties. He had blonde hair and a scruffy face. He wore a pair of aviator's goggles on his head, a blue t-shirt, leather gloves, dark green cargo pants, and a brown jacket tied around his waist. In his right hand, he held a lance. Hook ran up to meet him, but the man swung his lance around and knocked Hook over the head with the blunt side of the lance, knocking the captain out cold. Cora and Amora both began hurling spells towards the stranger, but he masterfully dodged all incoming blasts with impressive agility for his age.

"Magic," he spat in disgust.

With Cora and Amora both distracted, Jim saw his chance. He ran off and recovered his pistol. This did not go unnoticed by Amora, who prepared to hurl a spell at Jim. However, Jim was too quick with his pistol for her, and she cried out in agony as she took a laser blast to the hand. A massive scorch mark was left where the blast had hit. Amora waved her undamaged hand over the painful burn. Her magic healed the wound instantly. She looked back up to face Jim, only just in time to see Jim's fist connecting with her face. With that blow, she too was knocked unconscious.

Corasaw this take place, and, taking a brief break from her attack on the stranger, send Jim sliding across the room via magic. She then turned her attention back to the man. Jim found himself laying right next to the sleeping Odin. He began to furiously scrub the runes off of the floor around Odin. Breaking the spell.

"No!" Cora yelled in anger upon realizing what Jim was doing.

She hurled a ball of fire at Jim, who quickly rolled out the way to dodge it.

"Hey witch!" the man called out, diverting her attention away from Jim, "Over here!"

He began to charge toward Cora, the pointed tip of his lance aiming straight for Cora's stomach. Cora lifted her hand to hurl another spell, but found herself unable to as her hand was struck by a laser from Jim's pistol. Cora cried out in agony and, realizing the she was beaten, summoned up a Corridor of Darkness around herself.

"This isn't over," she hissed as she vanished.

Over by the door, Hook's unconscious body did the same.

"Nice shootin', kid," the man said with a smile as he lit a cigarette.

"Thanks," Jim said, "Mr. Uh-..."

"Highwind," he said, "Cid Highwind's my name."

"You saved my life, Cid," Jim said, "I would have been killed if you hadn't showed up."

"Gotta keep the fight against the Overlords alive," Cid said, "Besides, Cora's a nasty piece of work already, and with two lackeys helpin' her out, I wouldn't have bet on you. All I did was even the odds a bit, though. You're the one who took down both of those witches."

"Not quite!" Amora's voice growled.

Cid and Jim turned to face her. She was holding Frigga up next to her with one hand while her other hand glowed with green energy.

"I shall not be foiled like this!" Amora said, "Thor will be mine, even if I have to kill every witness in this room to keep up appearances!"

"What say you, Amora?" Thor's booming voice echoed.

Amora's eyes widened as Thor flew into the room followed by B.E.N.

"Release my mother at once, Amora!" Thor commanded, "This will not stand, you mad, murderous bitch!"

Amora looked as though she'd just been shot in the stomach. She threw Frigga at Thor, and vanished in a flash of green light. The battle was over.


	7. Chasing a Dream

"So, um, Cid," Jim said, "How exactly did you know to save me?"

Cid took a drag from his cigarette and chuckled lightly to himself. Thor and Frigga were over by Odin's bedside, making sure that the remnants of Amora's seal had been fully done away with.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story," Cid began, "But, for the sake of keepin' this whole damn thing as short as possible, I've been fightin' against those Overlord bastards for years. I tracked Cora down to Odin's chambers. It was just by coincidence that I saved you."

"And, um, why are you fighting the Overlords?" Jim asked.

Cid blew a smoke ring and lowered his hand with the cigarette to his side.

"Well," Cid began, "Ya see-"

But Cid was interrupted by a guard bursting into the room.

"Prince Thor! Queen Frigga!" the guard cried out between exhausted breaths, "It's Loki!"

"Loki?" Thor's face grew severe, "What of Loki?"

"He is no longer in his cell!" the guard said.

"WHAT?!" Thor yelled, his voice rumbling throughout the room.

Jim was pretty sure that he could hear thunder cracking outside of the palace. Frigga walked over, and rested her hand on Thor's forearm. At this, he seemed to calm down.

"Find him," Thor said in a more calm, but no less severe voice, "I want everyone in Asgard searching for Loki. Leave no stone unturned."

"Yes sir," the guard bowed before taking his leave.

A silence fell upon the room.

"I'm sorry, Thor," Jim said.

Thor turned to Jim and grabbed his shoulders.

"Jim, tell me the truth," Thor said, staring at Jim in the eyes, "When I left you alone with Loki, did you let him escape?"

"No, of course not!" Jim said, feeling very offended by the accusation, "How could you think that of me?"

Thor let go of Jim and shook his head.

"I am sorry, Kin of Hawk," Thor said, "I did not mean to accuse you of such a thing. Though I have not known you long, you have no yet given me cause to doubt you. Loki's disappearance has just stuck me hard. It never ceases to wear hard upon my soul when he continues chasing this poisonous dream."

Chasing a Dream. Jim thought back to something Silver had told him nearly two years ago: "You give up a few t'ings... chasing a dream...". Silver had given up his eye, his arm, and his leg pursuing his dream. Apparently, Loki had given up his family pursuing his.

"Sometimes dreams are all we have left," Cid said thoughtfully, almost under his breath.

"Anyway," Jim said, "I really do need to be on my way. I have a friend that I'm supposed to be helping, and I've been off course for too long."

Thor nodded.

"I understand, Kin of Hawk," Thor said, "I shall return you to your vessel at once."

"Hmph, that fuckin' death wish I saw docked just outside this world's atmosphere?" Cid interjected, "No offense, kid, but that thing's a disaster waitin' to happen. You'd need a full crew of men to pilot that goddamn thing, and the weapons are all pieces of shit. Not to mention, when it comes to speed, that thing couldn't outrun a single goblin ship, let alone get through a mother fuckin' Overlord blockade."

"And what do you know about ships?" Jim asked indignantly.

"Quite a bit, actually," Cid replied, "I was the first engineer on Radiant Gardens to construct a workin' gummi Ship and the first man from Radiant Gardens to achieve inter-world travel. Plus, I currently have the fastest and most efficient ship in the multiverse, the _Shera_. She makes all other ships look like fuckin' trash. Please, let me fly you. You'll never stand a chance in Hell out there on that old piece of shit."

"Look, Cid," Jim said, "I appreciate the offer, but I just met you and I'm not sure I can trust you yet."

"Jim, c'mon, don't be a numbskull," Cid said, "The basic fact is that you need a crew to pilot that thing, and it's pretty useless, anyways. It's a pretty fuckin' obvious choice, if you ask me. Look, you don't have to let me in on all of your little secrets or any of that shit, but you need me to pilot you."

What Cid was saying made sense, and there was something about the gruff and uncouth man that made Jim feel like he could trust the man, but something in his mind just kept telling him it was a bad idea. Maybe it was the fact that The Dreamer was one of the few links he had back to home. But, if that was the case, it would be stupid to try to make it work for sentimental reasons alone. He had B.E.N. and he had Morph; he didn't need the ship. Besides, Cid's ship sounded like the better option.

"Alright," Jim said, "You're right. I'll go with you."

"Great!" Cid replied as finished his cigarette and tossed it to the side before lighting another, "Shera's docked at the edge of the city. C'mon."

"Kin of Hawk," Thor said, approaching Jim, "I wish you good fortunes along your journey."

Thor shook Jim's hand and smiled.

"It has been an honor to know you," Thor said.

"I'm gonna miss you," Jim said with a smile.

"Kid, tic-toc," Cid grumbled.

* * *

_Shera_ was sleek. It was much smaller than _The Dreamer_, but the interior of it was so open that it looked much bigger from the inside. The cockpit of _Shera_ was huge, with a large glass dome covering it, allowing viewing from three directions. It was made of some strange blocks that were almost like rubber. Jim ran his hands over the blocks, feeling the odd texture and consistency.

"Gummi blocks," Cid said, "That's what those are."

Jim nodded in understanding.

"Cool," he said.

"Those things were made from the remnants of walls that once isolated the worlds," Cid explained, "When a world is open to another world, the protective wall breaks and the pieces rain down in the form of a meteor shower. Those meteors form gummi blocks. They're great for ship buildin'."

"There are barriers between worlds?" Jim asked.

Cid took a drag of his cigarette and shook his head.

"Not any more," Cid said, "They were already breakin' before hand, but, when Maleficent came into power, she shattered all of the walls to allow herself easier access to the worlds, as well as to harvest gummi blocks for her fleet of airships."

"Who's Maleficent?" Jim asked, "I heard Cora mention her before."

"She's a witch, man, a witch," Cid said, "We used to think she was the one behind the first spread of darkness, but that was actually a man named Xehanort. He was the bigger threat, so we ended up writin' Maleficent off as a joke, but we underestimated her too much. She came back swingin' harder than ever before; used the magic of a genie to steal the powers from all of the wielders of the Keyblades. Then she and her cronies went on a killin' and conquerin' spree. And, now? She's the leader of the Overlords. She's the one that rules most of this universe."

"So," Jim began, "She's the one we're trying to stop."

Cid took another drag from his cigarette.

"Hmph," Cid said, "Well, she's the main one, at least. The other Overlords are almost as bad as she is. There are seven bastards that make up the Overlords. There's Maleficent, of course, and you've already encountered Cora. Then there's her second in command, Jafar. That son of bitch is an all powerful immortal genie. He's the one who granted her wish to take the power from the Keyblade weilders. There's also Hades, the King of Olympus. The guy used to be the god of the Underworld, but, with Maleficent's help, he overthrew the rest of his family and decided that monotheism was the best policy. And if you thought Cora had some nasty spells, wait until you see what Ursula, the Queen of Atlantica, can cook up. That bitch is so powerful that as long as the tiniest ounce of her magic still exists, she can regenerate after any death. They're not all about magic though. Their general Shan Yu is the fiercest warrior you'll ever encounter. Not only is he a fierce warrior and brilliant military strategist, but he's also an expert on using the powers of darkness in combat and controls several powerful dragons. Last, but certainly not least is CLU. Don't let appearances fool you; he's not human. He's the physical manifestation of a powerful computer program designed to exterminate all imperfect life. He provides Maleficent with a powerful technological element. That's to say nothing of their Acolytes; those are their agents in each world."

As Cid listed off the Overlords, a feeling of dread in the pit of Jim's stomach grew stronger and stronger. How on earth could he stand up to the likes of a physical god, a witch that can't die, and a human killing program? What had Silver gotten himself tangled up with. The odds seemed impossible. However, Jim couldn't give up now. Silver needed his help. That was all that mattered.

* * *

A Corridor of Darkness opened on the upper deck of the High Tower in Hollow Bastion. Cora stepped out and let out a breath of dread. Maleficent wasn't going to take the failure of this mission well at all. Cora was not usually a woman to fear anything or anyone, but Maleficent was far different from anything else. She had extreme power at her finger tips and wasn't one to tolerate things not going according to plan. The woman had killed her most loyal servant, Pete, for his failures. No one was safe from her wrath. Cora took a deep breath and proceeded to the Castle chapel.

She walked into the dimly lit room that had once been a bright and holy haven for the pious. It had since been converted into the meeting room of the Overlords. The simple irony of such wicked schemes formulating in a room designed as a place of worship was too delicious for Maleficent to pass up. Using her magic powers, Maleficent had redecorated the chapel with a thorn pattern on the floor and torches burning with green fire. Across the room, six barely visible figures sat around a large, circular stone table. Maleficent was the most visible, sitting directly in front of the large Gothic fireplace, straight across from where Cora was standing. Cora took her seat silently.

"So nice of you to join us, Cora," Maleficent said, her emotions unreadable, "We were just discussing the events that transpired in Asgard. I must say that I am disappointed by the outcome."

"My mistress," Cora began, "I am aware that our campaign did not go as planned, and I take full responsibility for the failure. I can assure you that Jim Hawkins and Cid Highwind shall be dealt with immediately before they can interfe-"

"A juvenile and elder user defeated you, Cora," CLU interrupted, "I'm beginning to think you've gone soft. Besides, what makes you think you'll get a second chance to confront him?"

"I still don't see why we can't just turn him into a Heartless," Ursula chimed in, "It'll solve all of our problems with minimal stress."

"Ursula, you should know that using the Heartless is no longer practical," Jafar replied, "Our mistress holds the collective power of all of the Keyblades, the weapons that are the natural enemy of the Heartless. She is too much of a target to those creat-"

Maleficent put up her hand to silence the other Overlords. Everyone immediately stopped talking. Maleficent's reptilian yellow eyes stared straight at Cora. There was a strong intensity in them that made even Cora feel as though she would melt with fear.

"We were ill prepared for this development," Maleficent said, "Far too many times in the past, I have underestimated the interference of young men, once with fatal consequences. But I rose from the dead. I learned from my errors and rectified the situation. The boy that stole from me my life once before is dead, now, and I don't intend to be slain again before the same can be said of this boy. Cora, you are to continue your work in the Worlds of Yggdrasil. Formulate another strategy and see to it that the Nine Realms fall to our rule. Ursula, I want you to go to Fhloston Paradise. Contact Mok, and see if he has made any progress in decoding the Armageddon Key. Keep a close eye on him. I do not trust him or his business partner from Earth-1000. Shan Yu, you shall go after the boy. Take the fleet. You are to kill the boy and Highwind and secure the boy's map. Do I make myself clear?"

All of the figures at the table nodded in replied.

"I don't think I have to remind the rest of you to continue work on your projects," Maleficent added, "I do not take defeats lightly. While I chose each of you specifically for your individual talents, keep in mind that no one is irreplaceable."


	8. Back on Course

**A/N: And now, enter the new world. I kinda spell it out in the last section, but see if you can guess before hand through the subtle hints.**

* * *

Jim shut and locked the door of the passenger cabin on the _Shera_. Jim wanted very much to trust Cid, but he was practically a stranger. Saving his life once certainly earned Jim's trust enough to leave with him, but the map had to be kept a secret for now. He had to be sure that he could fully trust Cid first. Jim slid the sides of the metal sphere into the familiar pattern to open the map. Instantly, the immense web of green light enveloped the entire room. Jim looked over the grid representing this corner of the multiverse. A tiny holographic sphere on the right side of the map was blinking a yellow-green color, symbolizing that planet as the destination.

Jim made a mental note of the coordinates and shut off the map. He unlocked the cabin's door and walked out on deck over to the helm where Cid was standing. Jim relayed to coordinates to Cid, who proceeded to type them into a computer panel next to his steering wheel. The navigational system immediately displayed an image of the world and a blurb of information.

"Earth-145?" Cid asked, "That's where we're heading?'

"Yes," Jim nodded, "Hey, why is it called Earth-145? Why the string of numbers?"

Cid lit a new cigarette.

"All worlds have numbers, kid," Cid answered, "We're operating in a multiverse, not a universe. As such, there are different versions of each world depending on which universe you're in. This version of Earth just so happens to have been the 145th version of the planet to have come into existence. Same worlds have similar heritages and rules, but vary based on individual history and the universe in which it exists. Those warp hole things allow you to cross universes."

"I'm impressed," Jim said, "You actually managed to go a whole paragraph without cursing."

Cid gave Jim a light shove with a chuckle.

"Fuck you, kid," Cid said.

* * *

The beach was littered with people from many different worlds. Most of the beach goers were humans from Earth-1000, thanks to an industrial tourism system established between the two worlds, however, there were people and creatures that hailed from all over the multiverse. Fhloston Paradise was an interesting world. Although it was technically subject to the rule of the Overlords, because the entire world was privately owned by Mok Swagger, things pretty much went however Mok wanted them to go.

A beautiful brunette woman strolled down the beach. She wore a black bikini with a see-through navy blue cover up over it and large rimmed sunglasses that shrouded her eyes completely. Most distinctive, however, was the golden sea shell necklace that she wore around her neck. She walked up the deck towards an immense private cabana. A large, dog like man stopped her before she could enter.

"Guests of Mok only, ma'am," the bouncer growled.

The woman smiled devilishly and raised her hand. Within a second, a tornado of light enveloped the bouncer and, once the lights cleared, all that was left in his place was a polyp.

"Was that entirely necessary, Vanessa?" a voice from a beach chair inside the cabana said.

"I'm here on business," Vanessa replied, "Maleficent wants a progress report."

Vanessa entered into the cabana and approached the source of the voice, Mok. Mok was a rat-like humanoid draped in a thin white robe with short red beach shorts underneath. The rat-like man loved to wear a different wig for different occasions, but, out in the heat of the beach, he left his bald head exposed for comfort. He was lounged back in a beach chair, with two woman fawning over him at either side. The woman on his right was blonde, had immense breasts, and wore a white string bikini. The woman to his left, on the other hand, had purple hair, and, while her breasts were considerably less robust, she never-the-less had an extremely attractive body shown off by a purple bikini that matched her hair.

"My dear," Mok said, "You know that I work at my own pace. The Armageddon Key will be decoded when it gets decoded, not before."

"Yes, I can see that it's currently high on your priorities list," Vanessa scowled.

"Sarcasm is unnecessary, my dear," Mok said, "Forte is working out the notes as we speak, but it takes time. Getting an Armageddon key powerful enough to release-"

"Enough," Vanessa interrupted, "Do not speak of our goals so freely."

"Your goals, not mine," Mok retorted.

Vanessa clenched her teeth and fired a stream of lightning from the palm of her hand into Mok. Mok cried out in agony. Vanessa released her spell, and the rat-like man began panting heavily from the pain.

"We pulled you out of Hell for one purpose," Vanessa stated, "And if you fail to deliver to use what we want, we'll show you that there are things far worse than Hell. Maleficent could call up all of the powers of Hell even before she left her home world. She's since then become infinitely more powerful. I'll leave that amount of pain to your imagination. Work out the key, and do it quickly."

* * *

_Shera_ entered Earth-145's atmosphere over some island called "Ireland". The snow outside was fluttering around violently in the wind, coating the houses in the area under a white blanket. Jim shivered just thinking about the frigid temperatures on the other side of the glass dome.

"What's the matter?" Cid asked half mockingly, "Never seen snow before?"

"I have," Jim replied, "Just not in a very long time."

In fact, Jim was fairly certain that he had only seen snow once. It was back when he was six. He remembered building a snow man with his mother out in front of the inn and drinking hot chocolate by a warm thermal energy generator. His dad had been snowed in with them that day. However, rather than playing with his wife and son, Jim's father had elected to spend the day locked up in his office, like he was every time he was home.

"Your top secret source of information that I can't know any goddamn thing about say anything about where we need to go or what the fuck we need to do?" Cid grunted.

"Not yet," Jim said, "But we weren't in this world's atmosphere when I checked. With the... uh... last one, it started behaving differently once I was in the atmosphere of my destination."

"Well, get goin' on it," Cid said.

Jim returned to the passenger cabin and locked the door. With a few familiar motions, the map reopened. However, this time, instead of a map of the multiverse, a holographic projection of Silver appeared again.

"Jimbo, I'm proud of ya, lad, for getting' this far in one peace," the recording of Silver boasted, "I knew you had it in ya. Now then, I can't be too specific in case this little device is compromised, but I know you're a smart lad that can figure stuff out. You're here ta find my childhood memories. Collect them, and they'll tell ya where ta go from here."

The image of Silver disappeared back into the sphere. Jim walked back into the the cockpit to report back to Cid.

"We have to find his childhood memories," Jim said.

"And how the fuck do we do that?" Cid asked, tossing another used up cigarette into his ash tray.

"He didn't say," Jim admitted.

"Great," Cid said sarcastically, "Fuckin' great! We're looking for this bastard's childhood memories, and we have no fuckin' clue where to even look. And, on top of that, we have no idea how the fuck we're even supposed to go about finding a memory."

"Look, you volunteered for this, Cid," Jim said, growing more irritated with the man every minute, "No one's making you stay."

"Hey, take it easy," Cid said, his tone growing softer, "I didn't mean to come off as rude. What I'm trying to say is that this is a wild goose chase, and that our time would be better spent tracking down those Overlord bastards and stopping them in their track."

"But Silver needs my help," Jim said, "And this is what he asked me to do. He said that we're trying to stop the Overlords from gaining a powerful weapon that would make them unstoppable. This is how we're gonna stop them, not by blocking them from getting minor victories while they win the war right under our noses. I trust Silver. And you're going to have to trust me that this is the right thing to do."

"Trust? Heh," Cid grunted, "You don't even fuckin' trust me enough to tell me everything that's going on."

As much as Jim hated to admit it, Cid was right. He had been holding out on Cid. Even though Jim had grown to trust Silver, the old cyborg had betrayed his trust on their voyage together, and the demons of that still kept Jim from really trusting people. He wanted to wait until the time was right to trust Cid, but he remembered something his mother told him once: _If you wait until you're ready for something, it'll never come to pass_. If he was going to travel with Cid, he was going to have to put forward the faith to trust him. Jim pulled out the sphere.

"Here," Jim said, "It's a map using ancient technology that's unknown on my side of the multiverse. Silver sent it to me because I figured out how to use maps like these on our voyage together. I found the map that lead to Flint's trove where his treasure was stored. Silver was like a father figure to me. My dad left when I was just kid. So, now, I'm doing this for him because he did so much for me, just by being a friend."

Cid nodded.

"Well," Cid began, "I suppose I should reciprocate the gesture by tellin' you why I'm after the Overlords. Many years ago... shit, it feels like it was a life time ago, I lived in a world called Radiant Gardens. I was married to an amazing woman named Shera. We were madly in love. However, one day, because of Xehanort, darkness spread across the world. The Heartless killed my wife... my Shera..."

Cid paused for a moment and cleared his throat. Though Jim couldn't quite tell, he figured that Cid was biting back tears from his painful memories.

"But, I didn't have time for mournin'," Cid continued, "I had to help the kids get the Hell out of there. I was the only one who had achieved space travel; saving them was my responsibility. I took four young'uns with me in my Gummi ship to another world. Leon, Aerith, Cloud, and Yuffie. They grew up into fine adults... Heroes, even. In our exile, we met up with a young boy who was one of the Keyblade wielders, Sora. He returned us to our home world, and we rebuilt it after the damage Maleficent did in converting it to her own fortress. However, after Sora and his friends defeated Xehanort, Maleficent swooped in and killed them all. She then went on a conquerin' spree, and guess where she went first."

"Radiant Gardens," Jim murmured in response.

"That's right," Cid replied, "She came back to re-establish her old fortress. Leon, Aerith, Cloud, and Yuffie lead a rebellion against the old bitch, but the Overlords slaughtered them all without a second thought. It tore me apart. So, I vowed from that day on that I would bring down the Overlords or die tryin'."

"I'm sorry," Jim said.

"Ain't your fault," Cid grunted.

Cid's story danced around in Jim's mind as he walked over to the glass. Cid had lost everything because of the Overlords. Was he ready to deal with the loss involved in this struggle? One thing was certain in Jim's mind: now, more than ever, the Overlords had to be stopped. It wasn't just about Silver anymore. Cid lost everything because of the Overlords, and Jim assumed that he wasn't the only one. While pondering these things, Jim studied the snow covered village and saw an odd sight: a white haired boy in a blue hoodie who looked as though he was painting frost on a window. Jim wrote off the sight as an optical illusion caused by their altitude.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic ocean in an old underground mine shaft, a tall and pale man with dark hair and amber eyes sat huddled in a corner, scared out of his mind. Terrifying horses made of black sand known as Nightmares galloped around the mine, feasting upon the fear that this man radiated. He had been trapped down here, wallowing in his own fear, for months now. Just then, a bolt of violet lightning struck at one of the Nightmares. Another came and reduced a second Nightmare to dust. Then came another and another. The man looked up to see the source of the lightning. A tall and regal figure stepped into the area, holding the staff from which the purple lightning had come.

"Pitch Black, I presume," the figure said, the voice containing a cold elegance.

"Yes," Pitch replied, "I suppose I should thank you for doing away with those beasts. You have blessed me with my freedom."

"T'is nothing," the figure said, "However, I do ask for something in return."

"Name your price," Pitch said, standing up, "I can procure anything that you might desire."

"What I desire," the figure said, "is your services. I'm hoping to spread my influence across the universe, and I have set my sights on this world as a new extension of my influence. There is much that we can do for one another."

"What's your name?" Pitch asked, eying the figure suspiciously.

The figure smirked deviously before speaking.

"I am Loki, of Asgard."


	9. The Cold Shoulder

Shan Yu's ship, _The Hayabusa_, hovered in the space near Hollow Bastion. _The Hayabusa_, named after Shan Yu's since deceased pet falcon, was twice the size of normal gummi ships and was the flagship of Maleficent's fleet. The ship vaguely resembled a dragon and struck fear into the hearts of all who laid eyes upon it.

Shan Yu was seated at his desk in his office in solitude, composing a poem. While most believed Shan Yu to be an uncultured savage, this was most decidedly not the case. Shan Yu, despite all the bloodshed that he had wrought, had an eye for the beauty of the natural world. Composing poetry was the general's preferred source of solace. He was just putting the finishing touches on a poem about the winter snows of his home world when four figures entered the room. The Overlord's general looked up from the poem and smiled at his elite task force, the Sorcerer's Society.

"Good afternoon, my friends," Shan Yu said, rising from his desk to shake the hands of his allies.

Shan Yu went down the line, shaking each of their hands. Yzma. Madam Mim. Ayam Aghoul. The general took special care to make sure that he shook the field leader Mozenrath's left hand.

"Good afternoon, Lord Shan Yu," Mozenrath said, giving a slight bow, "Now then, I suppose you've called me here to promote me to a full fledged Overlord, am I correct?"

Yzma just rolled her eyes, wondering how Mozenrath had ever been able to talk her out of retirement.

"I am afraid not," Shan Yu replied, "Maleficent has tasked me with the elimination of two targets: our old friend Cid Highwind, and a boy that is working with him by the name of Jim Hawkins. They are currently on Earth-145. Your task is to travel there, kill both, and steal from them a golden sphere."

"And why are we being dispatched to do this job?" Yzma asked, "Don't you Overlords have Acolytes on every world? Why can't the Earth-145 Acolyte do the job?"

"Indeed we do have Acolytes on all known worlds," Shan Yu said, "However, the Earth-145 Acolyte is providing for us an undercover service. I do not wish to expose their true nature."

"So our mission is to send Highwind and the boy to the Netherworld, eh?" Aghoul asked.

"Yes," Shan Yu nodded.

"Playing hitman is beneath me," Mozenrath complained, "Besides, killing opponents is such a waste. You never know when they might come in handy."

"Maleficent ordered that they be killed," Shan Yu said, "It is not my place to question a direct order. Nor is it yours."

Shan Yu stared straight into Mozenrath's eyes, making it very clear where his place was.

"Besides," Shan Yu added slyly, "Jafar felt it was the wisest course of action as well."

"Jafar supported it?" Mozenrath asked, suddenly warming up to the idea, "Well, far be it from me to question what the Overlords decide. After all, Jafar is the most intelligent man to ever live. He can do no wrong, of course. Come on, guys, let's go take out the interlopers."

The Sorcerer's Society exited Shan Yu's office, and the general returned to his desk. All four of them were fools, but they were ever so useful. Shan Yu returned to his poem and finished it off with 冷.

* * *

Cid parked _Shera _just outside of the village, in the middle of the nearby woods. _Shera_ was equipped with a cloaking device, rendering it invisible to prying eyes. Cid and Jim proceeded into town, hilariously under dressed for the freezing weather. Jim was shivering and his teeth were chattering. He couldn't imagine how Cid was surviving with short sleeves. Off in the distance, Jim thought he saw a white-haired boy in a blue hoodie skate off behind a house. Before Jim had time to consider having seen this figure a second time, he and Cid found themselves surrounded by vicious looking black horses.

"What are these things?" Jim asked.

"How the Hell should I know?!" Cid grunted, "One thing's for sure, though: they're not friendly."

The horses began rushing in towards them. Jim began firing his pistol at them. To his surprise, upon being shot, the horse disintegrated into a pile of black sand. Cid sliced through several horses with his lance, producing the same effect. Jim continued to fire upon the horses, but he soon discovered that they simply reformed after being destroyed. It was becoming apparent that there were just too many for them to handle.

Just then, a powerful blizzard wind pushed its way over the skirmish. Jim had to cover his eyes to protect them from the icy winds. When he opened them, the horses around him were frozen solid, as were the ones surrounding Cid.

"Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but what the fuck just happened?" Cid asked, pushing a frozen horse out of his way.

"I don't know," Jim admitted.

"Ugh, these things are running around again?" a voice said.

Jim looked around and saw the white-haired boy in a blue hoodie glide down into the circle.

"Who are you?" Jim asked.

The boy turned around with a stunned look on his face. Up close, Jim was able to get a good look at the boy's face. He looked to be around Jim's age. His face had a mischievous look about it that simultaneously gave the boy a charming and attractive expression.

"You can see me?" the boy asked.

"Yeah," Jim and Cid replied in unison.

"I guess you both believe in me," the boy said.

"Huh?" Jim said, "What do you-"

Cid elbowed Jim lightly in the side.

"Uh, I mean, of course," Jim quickly corrected.

The boy raised his eyebrow.

"Right, because that elbow jab was totally inconspicuous," the boy replied sarcastically, "Hey, I might only look like a teenager, but I'm actually around four hundred years old. I've seen a few things. In my experience, the only people that can see Guardians are people that believe in us or people not from this world."

"Not from this world?" Cid grunted, "Kid, what the fuck are you talkin' about."

"Playing dumb?" the boy asked, "Seen it before. You guys think you're the first world travelers to show up here? Not even close."

"Cid, I think the whole 'pretending we're from here' thing is kinda bust," Jim said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Cid grunted, "But, still, it's best we don't let that happen too often. You never know who might be a spy for the Overlords."

"Anyway," the boy said, "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Jack Frost."

"Jim Hawkins," Jim replied, "And the grumpy old guy here is Cid."

"Grumpy old guy?" Cid said, turning to Jim, "Call me that again, and I'll fuck you up so bad-"

"Nice to meet you both," Jack interrupted, "What world are you guys from?"

"I'm from Montressor," Jim answered, "I picked up Cid on Asgard, he's from-"

"I'm from Radiant Gardens," Cid interjected, "And answer for me one more time, Jim, and I'll-"

"Cool," Jack said.

"So what exactly were those things that attacked us?" Jim asked.

"Nightmares," Jack answered, "Living manifestations of bad dreams and fears. An old enemy of mine, Pitch Black, was using them as minions last year. I thought they were all taken care of after he was defeated. Guess I was wrong."

"This has the Overlords written all over it," Cid grumbled, "Fucking bastards. Pitch must've been their Acolyte on this world. Old enemies comin' back up? It's their MO."

"If Pitch is back, then I've gotta let the other Guardians know," Jack said, "Find some place to lay low. I'll be back shortly."

Jack leaped up onto a rooftop and glided on a gust of air off into the distance.

"He's gone now," Cid grumbled, "You can take that goofy look out of your eyes."

"What goofy look?" Jim asked.

"That school girl with a crush look," Cid said.

"What are you implying?" Jim asked, growing a bit irritated.

"I ain't implyin' nothin'," Cid said, "I'm just askin' ya to keep it in your pants."

* * *

"You would endanger the entire operation by sending your little creatures after Frost?" Loki grumbled, "What kind of reckless fool are you?"

"Loki, I am grateful for your freeing me," Pitch said, "However, I am not some mongrel pup that you can order about. I will help in your plan, but I'm also going to continue to attend to my own goals."

"It is a hasty and unnecessary course of action," Loki said, "Once my plot has reached its dénouement, Frost will be yours to do with as you please. Why bother risking it in an attack that is doomed to fail?"

Before Pitch could respond, a Nightmare fluttered into the lair.

"What is it, girl?" Pitch asked, stroking the Nightmare's mane.

It neighed in response.

"What? Frost froze my battalion?!" Pitch asked, "NO!"

"I told you it would be so," Loki scoffed.

The Nightmare neighed again.

"What's that?" Pitch said, "Travelers from another world? A teenage boy and an old man?"

"Hawkins!" Loki spat, "I should have foreseen that he would interfere in my plans. Well, no matter. He is no threat to us."

The Nightmare neighed a third time.

"And Overlord agents in London?" Pitch said, "A petulant young sorcerer accompanied three ridiculous looking subordinates?"

"Ugh, the Sorcerer's Society," Loki grumbled, "They might seem like idiots, but they'll cause us more trouble than I'd like to admit. Pitch, I want you to go to London to meet up with the Overlords' minions. Their leader, the petulant sorcerer, should be relatively easy to seduce into doing our bidding, at least for the time being. I shall personally tend to Hawkins right here and now."

Pitch nodded and vanished into a Corridor of Darkness.

"Why all of the useful allies are arrogant upstarts is beyond my grasp. However, Hawkins should provide me entertainment, however brief it may be."


	10. Ravages of Time

Cid and Jim sat at a table inside of the town pub. Cid ordered a beer and lit up another cigarette. Jim just had a water.

"So, you really think the Overlords are here?" Jim asked.

Cid took a swig of his beer before answering.

"The Overlords are fuckin' everywhere," Cid answered, "I told you, they've got Acolytes on every world."

Jim still had trouble wrapping his mind around that part. He wondered who their Acolyte on Montressor was.

"Jack mentioned something called 'The Guardians'," Jim said, "Think they'll be allies?"

"I'm still not sure about Jack," Cid replied, "But he did save our asses out there."

"Yeah," Jim said.

He began to stare off into space, when, suddenly, he realized that there was familiar face in the crowd outside, with that all too familiar smug on his face.

"Cid!" Jim said, jumping up from his seat and spilling his water all over the table, "It's Loki!'

"Shit, kid, ya spilled water all over me!" Cid cursed.

Jim grabbed Cid's shoulders and turned the man to face out the window. Sure enough, Loki was out there in the streets, leaning on a lamp-post. His attire had changed to match the local clothing, but it was still unmistakably Loki.

"Son of a bitch," Cid said.

The two raced out into the streets over to Loki. Loki smirked devilishly when they reach him.

"Would either of you be opposed to speaking in a more private location?" Loki asked.

Before either had a chance to answer, Loki waved his arm and, in a flash of light, he and Jim were inside of an immense cave-like cavern that was, strangely enough, perfectly lit yet with no recognizable light source. Cid was nowhere to be found, presumably left out of Loki's spell. Here, Loki was wearing clothing more resembling the clothes he was wearing in Asgard. The only difference was that these clothes were more ornate and outlined in gold armor. In addition, he now had a flowing green cape and a gold helmet with ram-like horns.

"Where have you taken us?" Jim asked.

"Oh just a small pocket dimension," Loki replied, "Nothing worth getting excited over. Here, time can be perceived in a non-linear fashion. I figured it was the perfect place to obtain privacy."

Jim raised his eyebrow at this, but Loki didn't explain any further. Loki waved his right hand in a small, circular pattern around his side. In his hand, an archaic looking staff with a blue crystal spear-head materialized.

"What is that?" Jim asked, eying the spear.

Loki held it up in front of him.

"Oh, this?" Loki said, "Well, I couldn't just steal back my Tesseract staff, now could I? Well, I mean, I could have, but the staff is a beacon for a Mad Titan that I especially do not want on my tail. I needed a new weapon."

"Where'd you get it?" Jim asked.

"Inquisitive, aren't we?" Loki smirked, "It is another world's counterpart to Odin's staff, Gungir. It was being used to keep a formerly sunken city afloat. I merely restored balance to that world."

Jim was shocked. He knew Loki was ruthless, but to condemn an entire civilization to die a watery death? It was definitely a new low.

"Why didn't you bring Cid here?" Jim asked.

"I thought the two of us could have a nice little chat," Loki replied, "The coffin-dodger just gets in the way far too much."

"Since you're feeling so chatty," Jim said, "How about telling me how you broke out of your prison in Asgard."

Loki chuckled in a way that sent a cold shiver down Jim's spine.

"I would never have been there if it hadn't been a part of my plan," Loki answered, "I had to warn you of the Overlords to keep my home world from their greedy clutches a while longer."

"But why me?" Jim asked, "I was just a kid passing through! How could you have possibly known that I'd wind up in Asgard at just the right time."

Loki gestured around him.

"This pocket dimension has been an excellent utensil for that," Loki explained, "It's a little trick an old... friend taught me. As I said before, time can be perceived in a non-linear fashion to us while in this realm."

Jim thought on this for a moment. The concept of time was too surreal for Jim to fully grasp. But, if he was understanding Loki correctly, this pocket dimension could be used to see things that will happen in the future.

"So, we can see the future here?" Jim asked.

"We can see several possible futures," Loki clarified, "The future is not set in stone. The past is the only thing that is concrete. The future is a wide array of possible outcomes entirely dependent upon the choices that we make."

"So we _do_ have free will?" Jim asked.

"Indeed," Loki answered, "But only in the present. The past is set in stone. Even if we were able to travel through time to the past, no amount of free will that we posses can change what has already been done. Concepts such as 'The Butterfly Effect' are utter fallacies. Movements through time are already documented by time itself."

"As much as I appreciate the lesson on time," Jim replied, "Do you mind cutting to the chase and telling me why you've brought me here?"

"Hmph," Loki smirked, "Very well then."

Purple lightning crackled throughout his spear. Loki tapped the spear against the ground and streams of purple lightning began to course through the floor in a sunburst-esque pattern. When the streams of lightning reached the wall of the cave, the wall suddenly became coated in purple and black flames that fluttered about in a demented looking dance. Jim was taken aback by all of this and moved closer to the center of the area, away from the fiery walls. Loki spun his spear around and then held it in an offensive position.

"I would test your metal," he added.

Before Jim had the chance to speak, Loki swung his spear, full force, at Jim's head. Jim barely had time to duck out-of-the-way. Jim quickly crawled away as Loki brought the sharp point of the spear down in the spot where Jim had been. Jim hopped to his feet and reached for his pistol. As he pulled it out, a blast of lightning from Loki's spear knocked it out of his hand and into the fiery wall where it dissolved into nothingness.

"Damn," Jim cursed.

"That trick might have worked on Amora," Loki said, "But not so with me."

He turned back to face Loki, but, as he did, a blast of purple lightning hit Jim in the chest and sent him falling back. It felt as though he had just been punched in the chest, but, other than that, he felt no burn or electric jolt, indicating that the blast was merely intended to be concussive. Loki walked over to Jim and pointed the spear at Jim's neck.

"I had hoped that you'd put up more of a fight," Loki groaned, "It would appear that you're not the hero I thought you were."

Loki raised his spear up and stabbed it downward towards Jim's heart. Jim held out his hands in a last-ditch effort to block it and closed his eyes, waiting for the end. To his surprise, he didn't feel the spear piercing his chest. Instead he heard the clanging of metal and a strange weight in his hands. When Jim opened his eyes, he saw Loki with a look of shock on his face and in his hands was what appeared to be a giant black key.

"He was right," Loki muttered, "You do have a destiny about you."

However, immediately afterwards, a shimmering orb of white light that resembled a pearl blasted Loki off of Jim, and, just as quickly as it had come, the giant key vanished. Watery mists with the same color scheme as the orb began to descend over the flames, putting them out. Once the flames had dissipated, five young women ran into the room and stood in front of Jim.

"Meddling quims," Loki spat, directed at the five women, "You dare interfere in my affairs?"

"We're not going to let you get away with spreading darkness here," the woman in the middle, obviously the leader, spoke up.

"Insolent little fools," Loki growled before vanishing into a Corridor of Darkness.

"Are you alright?" one of the women asked as she helped Jim to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered, "Just a bit confused."

Standing up, he was finally able to get a good look at the women. All five were exceedingly, and almost magically, beautiful. The one that helped him to his feet had chestnut colored hair and wore a dress of blue and white. The woman in the center that had spoken up against Loki has dirty blonde hair and wore the clothes of a household servant. The woman to her right had lighter blonde hair and wore a dress of light blue with an eccentric, lace-like quality in several places. The next woman had reddish-brown hair and wore a ragged dull green dress. The fifth woman had short dark brown hair and wore a teal, skin-tight shirt and black leather pants.

"My name is Belle," the woman who helped him up said, "This is Cinderella, Alice, Anya, and Marina."

As she spoke, she gesture to the women in respective order.

"We're the Princesses of Heart," Cinderella spoke up.

"I'm Jim Hawkins," he replied, "Look, there's a lot of question that I have, and -"

"There's no time," Marina interrupted, "This pocket dimension is way too close the darkness. We need to get back to base. We can talk there."

Cinderella nodded and the five held hands. A white aura began to glow around them. A swirl of glimmering energy manifested in front of them. To Jim, it looked like a very intricately designed water fountain.

"It's a corridor of light," Anya said, gesturing to the swirl of energy, "It'll take us back to base."

Jim nodded and stepped through the Corridor of Light. On the other side, he found that he was in an elaborate workshop with yetis all over the place building what looked to be children's toys. The five women walked in behind him.

"Jim Hawkins," Alice spoke up, "Welcome to the North pole!"

* * *

"No, no, no," Yzma growled, "I'm sure the map Shan Yu's secretary gave us is pointing north of here! We landed too far south."

"I'm in charge of this operation," Mozenrath declared, "And I'm telling you, the map is pointing RIGHT HERE! I have an excellent sense of direction."

Aghoul had his hands pressed against his ears.

"Would you two quit bickering?" Aghoul groaned, "You're loud enough to wake the dead!"

"Oh no you don't!" Mozenrath said as he fired a blast of blue magic at Aghoul, "You do not get to make bad puns. Your name is insufferable enough already!"

Aghoul dodged the blast of magic expertly.

"Someone's feeling a bit trigger happy today, isn't he?" Aghoul muttered.

"Speaking of trigger happy," Yzma said, "Where did Mim go?"

"Hmm? Oh, she went to go burn down a farm-house," Aghoul answered, "She was getting bored, and, frankly, I wish I'd have gone with her."

"Why, oh Hades, WHY?!" Mozenrath groaned, "Why was I saddled down with such incompetent allies?!"

In a puff of smoke, Mim reappeared next to Aghoul.

"So, has Mozenrath finished his diva tantrum yet?" Mim asked.

"Nope," Aghoul groaned.

A Corridor of Darkness opened in front of the four bickering sorcerers, and from it stepped Pitch Black.

"Finally! Help from the Overlords!" Mozenrath sighed with relief.

"Ove- oh, yes, of course," Pitch lied, "That would be me. Aid from the Overlords. I am Pitch Black."

"I'm Mozenrath," he replied, "The old relic is Yzma, the batty one is Madam Mim, and the bag of bones is Ayam Aghoul, and, yes, that is the worst pun you'll ever hear."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Pitch said, extending his right hand to shake.

Mozenrath eyed Pitch's hand, but did not shake it back.

"We're trying to find a boy named Jim something-or-other," Mozenrath explain.

"Hawkins," Yzma groaned, smacking her face into the palm of her hand.

"Right, that's it," Mozenrath said, "Anyways, we need to steal a golden sphere from him."

"I see," Pitch replied with a nod, "The Overlords have an outpost set up. Let's continue our discussion there, shall we?"

"Agreed," Aghoul interjected.

The five proceeded back into the Corridor of Darkness, which promptly vanished behind them.


	11. Enter the Guardians

**A/N: I updated with this chapter relatively quickly so make sure you've read chapter ten before going on to this one**

* * *

Jim looked over the North Pole workshop. The entire place radiated an interesting feeling of wonder, almost as if this entire workshop had been designed with the intent to induce wonderment. Suddenly, he felt an oddly familiar sensation like gelatin rubbing against his face.

"Morph!" Jim said, his usual calm demeanor broken with nothing but joy present in his voice; perhaps it was a strange side effect of the wondrous setting.

"Your blob thingy missed you," Cid grunted as he walked into the room, "By the way, you owe me from dry cleaning. It spoiled my pants pocket."

Jack Frost walked in behind him as Morph settled back down into his preferred spot in Jim's pocket.

"I told you to lay low, Jim," Jack said in a mock-condescending tone, "But, nnnnope, you went and got yourself kidnapped by a super villain right after I left."

"Ha, ha, very funny," Jim replied sarcastically.

"But, seriously," Jack said, "I'm glad that you're alright."

The sincerity with which Jack said that gave Jim a very warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't entirely sure what it meant, but he had no intentions of making things awkward with Jack like he did with Tony. He would not let his emotions get in his way this time.

"Thank you," Jim replied with a smile.

"Excuse me," Cinderella spoke up and addressed Cid, "I don't believe we have made your acquaintance yet. I am Cinderella. This is Belle, Alice, Anya, and Marina. We are the Princesses of Heart."

"The name's Cid," he replied, "And you five certainly live up to that title."

Cid gave a quick wink towards them. Jim just rolled his eyes.

"Shall we continue to talk in the study?" Belle suggested, "We need to speak with the Guardians about that Loki fellow and resurgence of the Nightmares."

"Right," Jack said, "Ladies, if you'll be so kind as to show our guests into the study, I'll go round-up the other Guardians."

The Princesses of Heart led Jim and Cid into a large room with walls lined with what looked to be millions of books. In the center was a conference table with twelve seats.

"This is my favorite room in the North Pole," Belle said, making small talk while waiting for the Guardians, "There are so many wonderful books in here. North is quite the collector."

"North?" Jim asked.

"He's one of the Guardians," Belle explained, "He's the Guardian of Wonder. This is his house."

"Guardian of Wonder," Jim repeated to himself. That explained the feelings of wonder that he felt upon entering the workshop.

The door to the study opened again. Jack entered with four strange-looking figures behind him.

"Jim. Cid. Allow me to introduce the Guardians," Jack said, "First, there's Sandy."

Jim gestured to a short and chubby little man with a golden tint to him. His entire attire seemed to be made of sand. When Jack introduced him, he smiled and gave a polite wave to Jim and Cid.

"Then Tooth."

He gestured to the only woman among their ranks. She appeared to be a hybrid of a human and a blue hummingbird. She too waved politely after having been introduced.

"Next we have the ever disagreeable Bunnymund."

He gestured to a the man that appeared as a giant rabbit.

"Hey!" Bunnymund replied, obviously offended by Jack's remarks.

But Jack just ignored him and moved down the list.

"And last, but certainly not least, the big guy himself, North."

Jack gestured to the large muscular man with white hair and a long white beard. He wore an all red attire with accents of black fur. He gave a polite nod after being introduced.

"Now then, shall we all have a seat, yes?" North spoke up, revealing a thick Russian accent.

North took a seat at one head of the table. Cinderella sat at the other end. Everyone else filed into the remaining seats. Jim wound up sitting in between Jack Frost and Belle, while Cid sat himself between Marina and Anya. To Jim's surprise, there were just enough seats at the table to seat everyone. Jim found that a bit odd but wrote it off as a lucky happenstance.

"Now then," North spoke up, "Nightmares are running around again and this Loki fellow is amuck."

"Yes," Jim nodded.

"Do you think it could be another attack from the Overlords?" Cinderella asked, a twinge of worry present in her voice.

"Well, if it is," Bunnymund spoke up, "I'll knock those blokes back to the gates of Hollow Bastion like I did last time."

"Like _we_ did last time," North corrected.

Jim shook his head.

"No," Jim said, "I thought it might've been the Overlords before, but I'm almost positive Loki's not with them. He's not overly fond of them either."

"So we've got a little bit of evil vs evil going on here?" Jack asked.

Jim nodded.

"Regardless, though," Cid began, "The Overlords have Acolytes on every world. We're gonna have weed the Acolyte out and take him or her down."

"It has to be Pitch Black," said a voice from the doorway.

Everyone turned to see an elderly bearded man leaning his weight on an old rusted cane. He wore robes of all white, and, along his side, an hourglass was attached to his belt.

"Father Time!" North said as he got up to greet the elderly man, "It has been too long, my old friend."

"Too long?" Father Time asked, "Bah! What is time to an immortal?"

"I'm afraid all of our seats are filled today," North said, "We have two guests in our company. Please, take my seat."

"Bah! I'm not some feeble old man, North," Father Time said, "Keep your seat. I prefer to stand, personally."

North nodded and sat back down. Father Time stood to North's left, between him and Tooth, still visibly supporting his weight on the cane.

"The cane folds out into a scythe," Jack whispered to Jim, "It's pretty badass."

"Father Time," North began, "I'd like to introduce you to our world travelling guests, Jim and Cid. Jim. Cid. This is Father Time. He was a Guardian long ago, but he has since retired."

"None the less," Father Time spoke up, "I feel it is my duty to stay in the know of perilous events that may threaten the worlds."

"Now then, Jim," Anya spoke up, "You said before that you had a lot of questions for us. Please, go ahead."

"Well," Jim began, "The big thing that I want to know about is something weird that happened in the pocket dimension."

Father Time looked towards Jim, deeply invested in what he was saying, when he mentioned the pocket dimension.

"Loki was about to kill me," Jim continued, "I held out my hand to protect myself, and, when I did, a gigantic key just appeared."

When Jim mentioned the giant key, everyone in the room gave a collective gasp except for Jack.

"Kid, are you sure?" Cid asked, "Are you sure it was a key?"

"Yes," Jim said, "I'm sure."

"The boy is a Keyblade wielder?" North asked, stunned.

"No," Father Time said, "Maleficent killed all of the Keyblade welders and depowered all of the blades. There is no way that he could have one. However, he was inside of a pocket dimension. In there, time can be perceived in a non-linear fashion. It is possible that he will be a Keyblade wielder in the future, and the future perception summoned the blade as something of an adrenal reaction. But that still begs the question as to where Jim would get a Keyblade. There are no more left in this multi-verse."

Alice, Cinderella, and Belle all exchanged looks.

"Well," Cinderella began, "There is one Keyblade that Maleficent couldn't get to."

"What?!" Cid and the Guardians said in unison.

"The Keyblade of People's Hearts," Belle clarified, "When Maleficent captured us long ago before the Near Xehanort Apocalypse, a version of Xehanort possessing Riku used the magic from our sleeping hearts to create a Keyblade with the power to unlock people's hearts."

"Of course the Keyblade was incomplete," Alice added, "Kairi's heart was lost at the time. But the Keyblade returned to being a part of us after Sora used it to unlock his own heart."

"What did the Keyblade of People's Hearts look like?" Jim asked.

"It was black," Cinderella began, "But it had a red guard around the handle, and the teeth of the key were bent into a heart like shape."

"That was it!" Jim exclaimed.

"Then Jim needs to be given the blade," North said, "If his future self has the blade, then he must be the one destined to wield it."

Father Time shook his head.

"Pocket dimension do not reveal what will be," Father Time stated, "They only reveal what might be. The future is unknowable, even for me. It would be a self-fulling prophecy were we to give him the blade."

"Regardless, Xehanort summoned the Keyblade himself," Cinderella said, "We don't know how to create the blade, and, even if we did, it would be incomplete without Jasmine or the other princess's input."

"So there are two more Princesses of Heart?" Jim asked, realized that had to be the reason why there were only two extra seats. There was a chair for all five guardians and a chair for all seven Princesses of Heart.

"Yes," Belle nodded, "Originally it was myself, Cinderella, Alice, Jasmine, Aurora, Snow White and Kairi."

"But Kairi was killed during the Keyblade Wielder Genocide," Alice said, "And then Aurora and Snow White were also murdered by the Overlords."

"The pure lights move on to new subjects when one of us dies," Cinderella explained, "Two of the lights chose Anya and Marina."

"So where are the other two Princesses of Heart?" Jim asked.

"Jasmine stayed in her home world to fight Jafar's control," Alice said, "She refused to be cooped up in here. As for the seventh princess, I'm afraid we do not know where she is or even who she is."

"After Aurora and Snow's death," Belle said, "Yen Sid thought that it was for the best to send us to live with the Guardians to keep us safe."

"The Guardians were one of the few people that managed to repel the Overlords," Jack whispered to Jim, "But that was before I became a Guardian."

"He was able to locate Marina and me," Anya said, "But, unfortunately, not the seventh princess."

"Recounting the past to the boy is a waste of time," Father Time interjected, "What is more pressing is the matter of the Overlords and the Keyblade. Now, if I may be so bold as to suggest a course of action. The Princesses should enter into a pocket dimension closer to the light to meditate upon the past and to find out a way to create the Keyblade. Meanwhile, the Guardians and the world travellers should go to Pitch Black's former lair to investigate the resurgence of Nightmares."

North nodded.

"I feel that would be the wisest course of action," North said, "Would anyone be opposed?"

No one objected.

"Excellent," North said, "Father Time, would you be so kind as to accompany the Princesses of Heart to ensure their safety?"

Father Time gave a courteous bow.

"It would be my honor," he replied.

North smiled and a mischievous look twinkled in his eye.

"Then let's load up the sleigh!"


	12. Fear Itself

North's sleigh landed in the woods outside of Burgess. North let out a deep chuckle from his belly.

"Now wasn't that fun?!" North asked.

Cid flung himself over the side of the sleigh and promptly vomited.

"I know exactly how you feel, mate," Bunnymund said, "I'm usually the exact same way."

"I fuckin' hate magic," Cid muttered, "Especially when it tries to mix with flight."

Jim was fine. The ride had been fun for him. Of course, the sensation was a lot like solar surfing. That probably explained everything. North hopped out of the sleigh and looked over the area around them.

"Pitch's hideout is on the other side of that hill," North said, pointing in the direction that he was referring to.

Everyone hopped out of the sleigh (except for Cid, who stumbled out). The group began to walk forward, when, suddenly, Sandy stopped and cracked out a whip of golden sand into a nearby bush. He yanked it back, and, with it, came a pudgy creature that resembled a beaver.

"Groundhog!" Bunnymund said accusingly.

Jim was surprised when the creature actually spoke in response.

"That's General Beauregard to you, Bunnymund," the groundhog replied in a thick southern accent.

"Regardless, ya little shyster," Bunnymund said, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm walkin'," Beauregard replied defensively, "What? I ain't allowed to go for a little stroll?"

"This close to Pitch Black's hideout?" Tooth asked suspiciously.

"Not intentionally, mind you," Beauregard answered, "I walked past the place and my shadow got spooked by something-or-other and ran off."

"Your shadow?!" Cid asked.

"It's the dumbest holiday there is," Bunnymund explained, "Every year on February second, Beauregard tries to go a whole day without seeing his shadow. If he does, spring comes early. If not, then earth gets six more weeks of winter. A whole lot of hog-wash, in my opinion."

"It's purely scientific," Beauregard defended, "And, anyways, my shadow scuttled off in this direction, thank you very much. Now, if ya don't mind, I'd like to get back to looking for it."

With that, General Beauregard scurried off back into the bushes. North shook his head when Bunnymund prepared to run after him.

"Let him go," North said, "We have bigger things to focus on."

The seven heroes crossed over the hill and looked to the clearing below. In the center was a what appeared to be a decaying old wooden bed frame sitting on top of a large hole. Jim assumed the hole must lead into Pitch's hideout.

"Alright, so here is plan," North began, "Tooth, Sandy, and I shall go in through the entrance. We will draw any fire and hold off any of Pitch's forces. Bunnymund, you are going to use your tunnels to get into the lair from the opposite end. You and Cid are going to come in from that direction. Jack and Jim, you two are going to stay top side and secure perimeter."

"What?" Jack complained, "But Pitch could be down there, and I-"

"That is _exactly_ why I want you topside," North interrupted, "Pitch and Loki seem to have obsessions for you and Jim. It's too risky to send you two down into that hornet's nest."

Jack just groaned to himself and didn't respond. Jim also felt like he was being sidelined again, but what North said did make sense, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Everyone know plan?" North asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Good," North said, "Now let's get going!"

Everyone but Jack and Jim ran to the places that North had instructed them to go to. Jack and Jim just stayed together on the top of the hill.

"This is so bogus!" Jack complained, "I'm the one who defeated Pitch last time when he got the better of all of the other Guardians, and you know more about Loki than anyone else here. We should have gone in."

"Yeah," Jim nodded, "It's because we're the youngest, and they want to try to '_protect_' us because they think we can't handle ourselves."

"Exactly!" Jack exclaimed before groaning again, "Well, we've got nothing else better to do. Why don't you tell me a bit about your travels? I've never been to another world, but I've always wanted to."

Jim nodded and began to recount his story. He told Jack about finding the map, about Silver, about Treasure Planet, about everything.

* * *

"I don't trust that fuckin' groundhog," Cid said as he and Bunnymund crawled through the tunnel.

"Yeah, he's an irritating little bugger," Bunnymund said, "He's usually harmless enough, but that was stupid of North to just let the thing go."

"The little shit had a movin' shadow," Cid grumbled, "All magic used to animated shadows is dark magic."

Merlin had told Cid that long ago during the war with Maleficent's forces. Merlin had never been wrong about magic before, and Cid had no reason to believe that he would have been wrong about that.

"Wait," Bunnymund said, "Are you suggesting that the groundhog might be the Overlord's Acolyte?"

"I'm just sayin' that we don't know for sure that it's Pitch," Cid replied, "And that little bastard clearly has dark powers. I haven't survived fightin' the Overlords for this long by letting myself be blind to the possibilities."

"Well, I'm not sure if I could buy into the groundhog being capable of that," Bunnymund said, "But, you're right about one thing. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Cid and Bunnymund continue through the tunnels, not noticing a skull lodged in the wall beside them.

* * *

"Wow," Jack said, "You and Silver really must have really made a strong connection if you're out world hopping just to help him."

"He's the only one who really took an interest in me," Jim said, "He sort of became something of a replacement father for me over those months on the _Legacy_. He made me see that I was something special when I was in my darkest place."

Jim thought back to school on Montressor. Realizing that he was gay wasn't an easy thing to deal with on its own, but the other kids made things twice as hard. His mother was always too busy with the Inn to really concern herself with what was going on in Jim's life that didn't include the police. One night on the _Legacy_, when he and Silver were peeling potatoes together, Jim told Silver that he was gay. In the brief pause before Silver spoke, Jim nearly had a heart attack, dreading Silver's reaction. However, Silver just smiled and responded that it was alright and that love was about the feelings that two people shared, not the gender. It was the first time that someone had really verbally accepted Jim for who he was, and Jim never forgot that. He never could forget it.

"North was to me kinda what Silver was to you," Jack said, "He helped me realize my center."

"Center?" Jim asked.

"All of the Guardians have a center," Jack said, "It's what we're best at and what we protect for the children of the world. My center is fun."

"And what are the other Guardians' centers?" Jim asked.

"Well North's center is wonder," Jack replied, "Sandy's center is dreams. Bunnymund's is hope, and Tooth's center is memories."

"Memories?!" Jim asked.

Silver's words, _"You're here ta find my childhood memories. Collect them, and they'll tell ya where ta go from here,"_ echoed in his head.

"Yeah, memories," Jack said, "All of the teeth that she collects hold childhood memories. I had to get my teeth back in order to remember my past back when Pitch attacked last."

"That's why Silver sent us here!" Jim realized, "We have to get his teeth!"

"Huh?" Jack asked.

"The reason Silver sent Cid and me to this world was to find his childhood memories," Jim answered, "He didn't tell us exactly how, but this has to be what he meant!"

"Oh, how very sweet," a voice from behind them said.

Jim recognized the voice as Loki's. But, when Jim turned to face the speaker, he saw a figure that was most definitely not Loki. The figure had gray skin, jet black hair, and amber eyes, and he wore a cloak as black as night.

"Pitch!" Jack shouted.

"In the flesh," Pitch replied, "Of course, that's no thanks to you, Jack. But, I'm not here for you."

Before either of them could respond, a Nightmare galloped out of the folds of Pitch's robe and tackled Jim to the ground.

"Jim!" Jack shouted, rushing to help his friend.

But, when Jack got to Jim, the Nightmare was gone.

"Jim, are you alright?" Jack asked as he helped Jim up to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah," Jim said, "I'm fine, I'm-"

But Jim stopped as, before his very eyes, Jack Frost began to morph into a terrifying, yet, all too familiar form.

"Cabin boy," the figure hissed.

"Scroop!" Jim said, backing away from the pirate, "No, but you're dead."

"You can't kill me," Scroop said, "Evil never truly dies, unlike Mr. Arrow."

"Shut up!" Jim shouted.

"His life-line was not secure," Scroop hissed, "And it was all your fault!"

"Shut up!" Jim shouted back, "That was your fault, not mine!"

"Oh, is that how you bury your guilt?" Scroop asked, "By blaming it all on me? You're a coward who can't come to terms with the fact that his mistake cost an honest man his life."

"SHUT UP!" Jim shouted, covering his ears.

"And you know that Silver's never coming back for you, don't you?" Scroop asked, "He's left you, just like your father did. And, guess what? You were the one that pushed them away. Your flaws made them leave. It's all your fault!"

"SHUT UP!" Jim shouted again as he fell to his knees, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

He grabbed onto his hair and began to pull it as he clenched his eyes shut. He continued to repeat "Shut up!" as Scroop continued to laugh in his face.

* * *

"Jim, are you alright?" Jack asked as he helped Jim up to his feet.

"Yeah, yeah," Jim said, "I'm fine, I'm-"

Jim suddenly stopped talking and began to look at Jack as if he were some kind of monster.

"Jim?" Jack asked, growing concerned.

"Scroop!" Jim said, backing away from Jack, "No, but you're dead."

"What? No," Jack said, "It's me, Jack Frost!"

"Shut up!" Jim shouted.

Jack was taken back. Pitch's nightmare had clearly infected Jim and was making him hallucinate his greatest fear, which, apparently, was Scroop, who Jack remembered Jim mentioning in his story.

"Jim," Jack said, "You've got to snap out of it! It's just a nightmare!"

"Shut up!" Jim shouted back, "That was your fault, not mine!"

"Jim, please," Jack pleaded desperately, "Listen to me!"

Pitch chuckled wickedly in the background.

"He cannot hear you, Jack," Pitch said, "He's trapped within the Nightmare."

"SHUT UP!" Jim shouted, covering his ears.

"Jim!" Jack continued to plead to no avail.

"Oh, and have I mentioned that your little friends have walked right into a trap?" Pitch asked, "Just thought you should know."

Pitch then vanished into a Corridor of Darkness, leaving Jack with the fear intoxicated Jim.

"SHUT UP!" Jim shouted again as he fell to his knees, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

He grabbed onto his hair and began to pull it as he clenched his eyes shut. He continued to repeat "Shut up!" as Jack desperately rushed towards the entrance to Pitch's lair. However, right as he reached the edge of the hole, he heard a large explosion from below that shook the ground up above.

"NO!" Jack cried out.


	13. Sacrifice of Heroes

Jack desperately tried to dig through the rubble blocking the entrance to Pitch's hideout. His palms were starting to bleed, but he kept going, fiercely trying to dig out his friends. His efforts were an exercise in futility; the layer of rubble was too thick.

"Dammit!" Jack cursed, "Why couldn't I have earth powers instead of ice?!"

He continued to frantically dig as a gaping hole opened behind him. Jack turned around as Cid and Bummymund crawled out of it. They were covered in dust and had a few scratches, but, other than that, were none the worse for the wear.

"It was a bomb," Bunnymund said, "Or, at least, a series of bombs. Someone knew we were coming and set a trap."

"How'd you guys get away from the blast with such little damage?" Jack asked, looking for some hope that the others could be alright.

"Bunnymund opened a tunnel for us the second the bomb went off," Cid explained, "Had he been another second late, we'd have gotten fried."

"Are North, Tooth, and Sandy still in there?" Bunnymund asked.

"Yes," Jack said, "I haven't been able to get through the rubble."

Bunnymund tapped his foot on the ground and a large hole opened in front of it.

"I'm goin' in after them," Bunnymund said as he dove into the hole.

"Jack, where's Jim?" Cid asked, suddenly growing concerned.

"Oh my God, Jim," Jack said, skating back up to the top of the hill.

Jim was still on the ground, pulling his hair, and repeating "shut up" over and over. Cid ran up the hill after Jack.

"Jim? JIM!" Cid called out as he ran to Jim's side, "What the Hell happened?!"

"It was Pitch!" Jack said, "He attacked him with a Nightmare. I couldn't stop him."

"It wasn't my fault!" Jim sobbed, "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"How the fuck do we help him?" Cid asked desperately.

"I don't know," Jack said, "I've never seen a Nightmare that strong."

"Shit, shit," Cid cursed.

Another hole opened next to them. Bunnymund walked out with Tooth, supporting her weight on his shoulder. She was covered in ash and her feathers were caked with blood. Her wings were very visibly broken. North crawled out next with an unconscious Sandy cradled in one of his gargantuan arms. He too was covered in ash and his normally white beard was stained crimson. Sandy was completely gray with ash and had scorch marks all down his arms. All three of them looked to be in pretty bad shape.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked as he ran over to help.

"We need to get back to North Pole, stat!" North said.

As if God had just heard North, a Corridor of Light opened in front of them. Anya stepped out with an extremely concerned look on her face.

"We saw a vision of this in the Pocket Dimension," Anya said, "I came as fast as I could!"

"Thank you, Anya," North replied.

He ran into the Corridor with Sandy still in his arms. Bunnymund helped Tooth into the portal after North.

"Jim, c'mon, we've gotta go!" Cid said.

"No Scroop!" Jim said, squirming away from Cid, "I won't! I won't!"

"Kid," Cid said, "I hate to do this, but we've gotta go!"

Cid punched Jim hard in the head, knocking him unconscious. He flung Jim over his shoulder and walked into the portal, followed by Jack and Anya.

* * *

Miles away, just outside of a Washington D.C. water treatment plant, a Corridor of Darkness opened. Pitch stepped out of it and rejoined Loki and the Sorcerer's Society.

"It is done," Pitch said with a grin, "Hawkins has been infected by our new and improved Nightmare, and the Guardians just received their exploding surprise."

"Of course they did," Aghoul said, "I set up the skull-bombs myself."

"But what about the sphere?" Mozenrath asked, "The Overlords wanted us to procure the sphere, not blow the Guardians to smithereens!"

"I am your superior officer within the Overlords," Pitch sneered, "Retrieving the sphere is secondary to conquering the world."

"Please pardon Mozenrath's impudence," Yzma said, "It's just that our direct commanding officer, Shan Yu, had informed us that the sphere was the top priority."

"That may be," Pitch said, "But you're on my world now, and I'm the one directly giving you the orders that conquest is our primary goal."

"Enough of this," Loki interjected, "We are going to achieve both goals soon enough. Of that, you should have no fear, Mozenrath. For now, however, let's just stick to my plan, shall we?"

"Yes, of course," Yzma nodded, "But why exactly are we outside of a place for cleaning sewage?"

"We're going to be spreading a little fear," Pitch answered with a devilish grin.

* * *

The Princesses of Heart were working double time trying to heal the injuries that the five caught in the explosion received. Of course, Cid and Bunnymund grouchily insisted that they didn't need any medical doting, but Marina gave them "the look" and ordered them back to bed. They knew better than to object any further after that.

Sandy was still unconscious. Apparently, Sandy had surrounded North, Tooth, and himself in a bubble of sand that shielded them from the brunt of the explosion. However, it hadn't been enough to fully protect them and it caused a huge strain on Sandy which resulted in him falling unconscious. Cinderella had been tending to him. Her spell was helping, but that heavy of a strain on his abilities could potentially keep him unconscious for another day or two. Jim was also still unconscious. Jack stood by his bedside, worried about his new friend.

"When Sandy awakes, he will be able to help Jim," Father Time said as he entered the room where Jim was being kept, "Just be patient."

Father Time gave Jack a light pat on the back.

"How can I be patient when he's suffering a horrible torture?" Jack asked, "Sandy might not wake up for days. I can't let Jim stay trapped in his fear for that long, and it's partially my fault. I should have protected him. There has to be something else that I can do!"

"Well," Father Time began, "There might be something. But it'd be very risky."

"What is it?" Jack asked desperately, "Tell me!"

"The last known instance of it was back before the Keyblade Wielder Genocide," Father Time explain, "It involves entering into the Realm of Sleep and becoming a Dream Eater. From there, you'd have to dive into Jim's heart and fight off the Nightmare holding his heart captive."

"I'll do it!" Jack exclaimed, "Just show me how!"

Father Time nodded gravely.

"Very well," he said, "I am familiar with a spell that will transport you into the Realm of Sleep. Your own strength of will alone can make you into a dream eater."

"Whatever it takes," Jack affirmed, "I'm willing to do it."

Father Time held out his cane and muttered something in Latin under his breath. The tip of his cane began to glow bright white. The same white aura surrounded Jack and Jim. Jack took a deep breath, and, in a warm burst of light, he vanished from the room.

* * *

With the Guardians all resting, the Princesses of Heart gathered in the longue, taking a well deserved break. Anya, Marina, and Alice were all huddled together on the couch while Belle and Cinderella were leaning up against one another on the love seat. They all sat, sipping on their hot chocolates in silence, no one really wanting to discuss the day's events. Cinderella was the one who broke the silence.

"There's no use in running from the topic," she said, "In order to forge the Keyblade, we're going to have sacrifice the memory closest to our hearts. Tooth will be able to extract them, but we'll have to give them up."

A silence descended upon the girls once more for several minutes.

"I can't do it," Anya finally said.

"Why not?" Cinderella asked.

"I know all too well what it's like to loose memories," Anya said, "It creates a hole in your heart that can't be filled. I suffered from amnesia for ten years. I still haven't fully regained the memories. I still can't remember what my father looks like. I can't give my memories up. Not again."

By this point, Anya was almost weeping. Marina wrapped her arms around Anya to comfort her.

"It is an awful lot to ask of us," Alice said, "Giving up our most precious memories and all."

"I know," Cinderella nodded, "But sacrifices have to be made for the greater good."

"But the Keyblade is just a weapon," Marina said, "And there's no guarantee that it'll work. We could be giving up the memories most dear to us for a fruitless cause."

"But, if it has a chance of helping, shouldn't that be enough?" Belle asked, "As Princesses of Heart, we have to take responsibility for this. I don't want to loose my memory of Adam, but if it even has the possibility of saving lives, I feel like it's my duty to let it go."

Anya wiped away a tear from her eyes.

"I know you all must think I'm incredibly selfish," Anya said.

"Not at all," Cinderella interjected, "It's a tough decision, especially after what you've been through. We don't judge you."

"Thank you," Anya said, "I just, I don't know if I can go through that again."

"Anya, what memory would you have to give up?" Belle asked, "If you don't mind my asking."

"I-I'm not sure actually," Anya admitted, "I don't know if it's Dimitri or Grandmamma. They're both my closest memories."

"Well," Belle began, "Would you rather have them be safe at the cost of your memories of them, or loose them and only have your memories of them left?"

Anya closed her eyes and nodded.

"I understand," Anya said, "I would give anything to protect them, and it's ridiculously selfish of me to act otherwise. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," Cinderella said, "So, now, is everyone in agreement for what has to happen?"

The other four princesses nodded.

"Then let's summon that Keyblade!"


	14. Bring Me to Life

When the immense light vanished, Jack found himself hovering in an area that was completely black. He could feel that he was descending, but there appeared to be no bottom to this area. As he looked down, he noticed that he was wearing a different shirt. Instead of his blue hoodie, he was wearing a skin-tight blue sleeveless shirt. On the front of the shirt was a strange sigil that looked like a heart divided into three sections with two tusks arching downward from its sides.

Jack suddenly felt sand underneath his feet, and the descending feeling left his body. Jack looked down to his feet. What had appeared to be more bottomless darkness before was actually black sand like the type Pitch used.

"Jack!" a voice called from behind.

Jack turned around to see Jim wrapped in chains of black sand several feet away. Jack ran over to him.

"Jim!" he said as he reached Jim, "I'm gonna set you free."

Jack touched the chains and began to freeze them. Jim's face suddenly turned from relieved into horrified.

"Look out!" Jim shouted.

"Huh?" Jack asked as he turned around.

As he did, he was hit in the side of his face by a large crab claw, causing him to stumble a few feet back. When he began to turn back, he found himself suddenly forced down to the ground by a horrendous crab-spider creature with bright yellow eyes that glowed like fire. Jack figured, from Jim's description, that this must have been Scroop.

"Hands off!" Scroop hissed.

Jack struggled in fear of the creature until he remembered that he had become a Dream Eater. He should be able to consume this creature and revert into nothingness. He grabbed onto one of Scroop's legs. For a moment, the bright light surrounded Jack's hand and Scroop's leg, but it quickly vanished. The Nightmare burst out laughing.

"Sorry, boy!" he said, "But I'm too powerful of a Nightmare for that trick."

"This... is bad," Jack said.

Scroop thrust his claw forward towards Jack's head. Jack held out his arm and sent a flurry of frost directly towards Scroop. It hit the Nightmare square in the chest, knocking it back. Jack grabbed his staff and stood up. The Nightmare had also recovered and was sprinting towards him. Jack hurled another flurry of frost at Scroop. This time, it didn't knock the Nightmare backwards because the creature was trying to resist against the blast, however it was very visibly moving slower than before. Jack realized this and began to pelt the Nightmare with multiple smaller blasts of frost. Each time, the creature grew slower and slower as the sands composing it froze solid. Jack let loose a deep breath that he hadn't realized that was holding once he saw that Scroop was completely frozen. Jack walked over to Jim and finished using his ice to break the chains.

"You okay?" Jack asked as helped Jim to his feet.

"Yeah," Jim said, "I think so. So, is the nightmare over?"

"I think so," Jack replied.

"Don't count on that," the Nightmare hissed, "Remember, Jim, how you chased away your father."

The darkness around them suddenly morphed into an image of a man walking down a path towards a ship. Jack assumed that this was Jim's memory of his father leaving.

"It was all your fault," the Nightmare said, "You wanted too much attention from him instead of giving him his space. Your parents fought over you all the time. They would have stayed together if you hadn't been born. You were a mistake."

"Jim!" Jack shouted, "Don't listen to him. It's not your fault for what happened with your parents. You can't blame yourself for that!"

The Nightmare had dethawed itself and was now circling the two boys. Jim had his eyes clenched shut and was pulling on his hair just life he had been back on the hilltop.

"You might want to believe him," the Nightmare continued, "But, in your heart, you have to realize that he's wrong. After all, everyone you truly love always abandons you. Your father. Silver. It's only a matter of time before Cid leaves you too."

"Cid would never leave you!" Jack said, "Jim, this Nightmare is playing up on things that just aren't true. You can't believe it."

"This boy says it's not true, but you know the past," the Nightmare hissed, "Patterns continue. It's always going to be the same."

"You're right," Jim sighed.

"Jim! No!" Jack shouted, "You can't believe him! It's a Nightmare! It's trying to play on your vulnerabilities."

"But it's right," Jim said, his voice sinking into a depressed monotone, "Everyone that I love ends up leaving me."

"Jim, listen to me," Jack said, as he grabbed Jim's shoulder and forced Jim to face him, "I will never leave. I promise. I'm a Guardian, it's my job to protect people. I won't let you go. I promise you that, no matter what happens, I'll never leave you."

"Do you mean it?" Jim asked, a twinge of hope returning to his voice.

"Of course not," the Nightmare hissed, "No one wants to stay with you. He's no different."

"Why don't you let me speak for myself, huh?" Jack asked the Nightmare angrily before turning back to Jim, "I mean it. I'll stand by your side no matter what. I promise you that. Guardian's honor."

"He's lying to you," the Nightmare said.

"No, you're the one that's been lying," Jack said, "You're just a Nightmare, one of Pitch's little stooges. You feed off fear, and Jim's not going to listen to you anymore!"

"Right!" Jim said.

Jack could distinctly hear the Nightmare growling.

"Then I'll just have to take you out of the picture!" the Nightmare roared.

The Scroop-like creature began to rush towards Jack with murderous intent in its eyes. Jack leaped into the air with surprising agility and landed on the Nightmare's back. As he made physical contact with the creature, his hands began to glow and so did the Nightmare. The Nightmare suddenly began to cry out in pain as if it were being burned by the light.

"Looks like you're not as powerful anymore," Jack said, "Jim's not afraid of you anymore! You've got nothing left to feed upon."

The Nightmare's features began to become less and less visible as the bright light was all that was left. Within seconds, the light completely faded away and the Nightmare with it. Jack gently floated back down to the ground. The black sand on the floor suddenly began to spiral away, revealing a beautiful circular stained glass title decorating the floor.

"Thank you, Jack," Jim said.

"Hey, no problem," Jack said as he turned to face Jim, "Anything to help a friend."

"Hey, listen," Jim started to say, "About what you-"

But, before Jim could continue what he was saying, he and Jack suddenly became immersed in the warm light from before, and they began to ascend.

"We'll talk on the outside!" Jack shouted out to Jim as the light enveloped them both.

* * *

Jim opened his eyes. Scroop was no where in sight anymore. It looked like he was back in the North Pole, lying in a bed. His head hurt, and he could feel a bump on the side of his head. Jim sat up, rubbing his head. He suddenly realized that he wasn't alone on the bed. Jim looked over to see that Jack was laying next to him. Jack was back in his blue hoodie as opposed to the Dream Eater shirt that he wore in the dream world. Jack slowly sat up as well. When he noticed Jim, he gave a little chuckle.

"Well this is a bit awkward," Jack said upon noticing where he was.

"Thank you, again," Jim said, "For saving me."

"Hey, like I said before," he replied, "Anything to help a friend. But wasn't there something that you wanted to talk to me about before we got cut off."

"Oh, yeah," Jim said, "Listen, when you said that you'd-"

"Hey, Jack," Cid's voice interrupted as he walked in, "North's asking about-"

He stopped short upon seeing Jim and Jack together on the bed. He opened his mouth to speak again, but waved it off before walking back out.

"Y'know what? Fuck it," his voice called from the hall, "I don't wanna know. Come out and see for yourself when you two are decent."

"Wonder what's up," Jack thought out loud as he hopped out of bed.

Jim sighed and followed after him into the Conference room. Sandy and Tooth were not present; Jim assumed that they must still be resting. However, everyone else was gathered around the table, looking severely at something. Upon entering, everyone's faces seemed to lighten at the sight of Jim being up and about.

"Jim!" Belle said with a smile, "You're alright!"

Father Time's normally stoic demeanour even faded for a bit to reveal a bit of a smile.

"So, it would seem that your mission was a success, Jack?" Father Time said, "I must offer my congratulations. Few have successfully achieved a Dream Eater state when diving into a sleeping heart."

Jack gave a slight bow in response.

"Thank you, sir," he said.

"Now, what was so important that you guys needed to show us?" Jim asked.

Cid gestured to the table. Jim walked up and saw that laying on the table was the Keyblade of People's Hearts.

"Whoa," he whispered to himself, taking in the sight of the thing, "How did you guys manage to get it?"

"It came at a heavy cost," Cinderella admitted, "But we all felt that it was worth it."

Jim started to feel uneasy about the cost that the Princesses had to pay to get the Keyblade, but they clearly didn't want to speak further on the matter, so Jim dropped the subject.

"At any rate, Jim," North said, "It is for you."

"Really?" Jim asked, looking towards Father Time.

Father Time's stoic demeanour had returned.

"I still feel as though that this is a self-fulfilling prophecy," he said, "However, the Princesses are fully convinced that you are the right man to wield the blade."

"You remind me a lot of a Keyblade wielder that I met a long time ago," Cinderella explained, "He was one of the bravest men that I've ever met, and he taught me that strength of heart would carry me through the hardest of trials. And I believe that you have the strength of heart needed to be the new Hero of the Keyblade."

Jim gave a courteous bow to Cinderella.

"I'm truly honored," Jim said.

"Well, go on, then," Alice said, "Take it. It's yours now."

Jim reached forward and wrapped his fingers around the cold metal. Despite the size of the blade it was very light weight, and Jim was able to hold it up with ease.

"Hmph," Cid said, "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Kind of a creepy design, though," Jack said, looking over the blade.

"Oh!," Belle said, "That's right, we didn't tell you about key chains. When you attach small trinkets close to someone's heart to a key chain on the hilt, the Keyblade will respond by taking a shape that is reflective of the person."

Jim pondered this, but he couldn't think of any "trinket" close to his heart that he could use. Morph floated out of Jim's pocket to get a look at the blade. Upon hearing what Belle said, Morph promptly transformed himself into a key chain and attached himself to the hilt of the Keyblade. Immediately afterwards, the Keyblade responded and morphed into an entirely different shape. No longer was the blade black and jagged in its design. While it still kept its basic shape, the teeth of the Keyblade now resembled the sail of Jim's solar surfer, providing a sharper and more practical edge. The pole of the blade took on a very robotic look that reminded Jim of Silver's robotic appendages. The hilt now resembled a series of solar surfer sails overlapping one another, and from it hung the pink Morph key chain that still looked a good deal like the little pink blob. This was certainly a Keyblade that looked like it was designed with Jim in mind.

"Whoa!" Jim said, looking it over, "This is so cool! Thank Morph!"

Morph responded with a series of gurgles coming from the key chain.

"It is magnificently designed," Cid said, "Now the real struggle is gonna be learning how the Hell to use it."

"I can train Jim," Father Time volunteered, "The Keyblade, despite its name, bears more resemblance to a scythe or axe than a sword. As a scythe wielder, I am well versed in the fighting style of weapons weighted in such a manner."

"I would be honored to have you teach me," Jim said.

"Let's see if you still feel that way after I begin to train you," Father Time said with a sly smirk.

"I'll help out," Cid said, "He's going up against Loki whose weapon of choice is a lance. I might not be able to help him with that mumbo jumbo shit, but I can definitely show him a few tricks to get the leg up on Loki in a physical battle."

"I have a training room downstairs that I use to practice skills with swords," North said, "You are free to make use of it."

Father Time nodded.

"Then let us get started," he said, "We do not have an abundance of time to waste."


End file.
